The term "Singapore issues" refers to the work of four working groups set up during the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

's Ministerial Conference of 1996 in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. These groups are tasked with the following issues: *transparency in

government procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

, * trade facilitation (customs issues), *

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

and

investment Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

, and *the interaction between

and

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

. , only trade facilitation remained a live issue within the Doha Development Agenda.World Trade Organizatio
Doha Development Agenda
accessed 13 January 2024

Adoption of the issues

These issues were pushed at successive Ministerials by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and Korea, and opposed by most developing countries. The United States was indifferent about the inclusion of these issues, indicating that it could accept some or all of them at various times, but preferring to focus on market access. This article is available to subscribers only. Disagreements between largely developed and developing economies prevented a resolution in these issues, despite repeated attempts to revisit them, notably during the 2003 Ministerial Conference in Cancún,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, whereby no progress was made. Since then, some progress has been achieved in the area of trade facilitation. In July 2004, WTO Members formally agreed to launch negotiations. Under the mandate of the so-called "July package", Members are directed to clarify and improve GATT Article V (Freedom of Transit), Article VIII (Fees and Formalities connected with Importation and Exportation), and Article X (Publication and Administration of Trade Regulations). The negotiations also aim to enhance technical assistance and capacity building in this area and to improve effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. To date, Members have submitted a great number of proposals under the mandate that provide the basis for the initial negotiations. The negotiations were expected to be completed under the overall Doha Development Agenda timeline. However, in practice, negotiations have been interrupted.

References

External links

* http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/bey3_e.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20050408153526/http://www.ictsd.org/pubs/dohabriefings/doha6-singaporeIssues.pdf World Trade Organization {{Singapore-stub