RESTRICTED
WORLD TRADE S/NGBT/13
12March 1996
ORGANIZATION(96-0904)
Negotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications
REPORT ONTHE MEETING OF28FEBRUARY 1996
1. TheNegotiating Group onBasic Telecommunications held itsthirteenth meeting on
28February 1996. Theagenda forthemeeting wascontained inairgram WTO/AIR/258 of
30January 1996.
2. Regardingrequestsforparticipationandobserverstatus,theChairmanannouncedthatColombia
andThailand hadtaken decisions tojointhenegotiations asfullparticipants. Asaresult, thenumber
offullparticipants inthenegotiations stood atthirty-six1.Bolivia, Côted'Ivoire andMyanmar were
welcomed asobservers totheNGBT, bringing thenumber ofparticipants withobserver status totwenty-
seven2.TheChairman thanked thedelegations fortheirdecisions andencouraged other governments
participating asobservers alsotoconsider joining inthenegotiations asfullparticipants assoonas
possible.
3. Under theagenda itemontheintroduction ofdraft offers, newoffers were submitted and
introduced byIsrael, Brazil, Poland andMauritius. Thisbrought thetotalnumber ofdraft offers
submitted byparticipants thusfartotwenty-three.3TheUnited States submitted arevision toitsdraft
offer, bringing thenumber ofrevised offers tofour. Representatives oftheDominican Republic and
Morocco indicated theirintention topresent draftoffers, while therepresentatives ofMexico and
Venezuela promised toprovide improved offers shortly. TheChairman, thanked thedelegations who
arepreparing draftoffers aswellasthose whoexpressed theirintention toprovide improved offers
andencouraged other governments todothesame.
4. TheChairman invited delegations tocomment ontheprogress ofbilateral negotiations held
during theweek withtheparticipation ofhigh-level officials. Participants gavemixed assessments
oftheprogress ofthebilateral negotiations. They recognized thatpositive developments weretaking
place inthatnegotiations wereintensifying interms ofnewdraftoffers being submitted andpromises
toprovide improved revised offers. Nevertheless, mostofthemalsoexpressed concern regarding the
number ofoutstanding, newandrevised offers, theneedtoincrease thelevelofparticipation andthe
shorttimeframe remaining tomeetthedeadline. Many participants alsostressed thenecessity toinclude
additional commitments onregulatory principles tosupport market access commitments. Oneparticipant
1Argentina, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, theCzech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, theEuropean Communities andtheirMember States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom), Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mauritius,
Mexico, Morocco, NewZealand, Norway, thePhilippines, Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey,
theUnited States andVenezuela.
2Bolivia, Bulgaria, Brunei Darussalam, theRepublic ofChina, Chinese Taipei, Côted'Ivoire, Costa Rica, ElSalvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Latvia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Romania, Russian Federation,
Slovenia, South Africa, Trinidad &Tobago, United Arab Emirates, andUruguay.
3Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, theEuropean Communities and itsMember States, Hong Kong, Hungary,
Israel, Japan, Korea, Mauritius, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, thePhilippines, Poland, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Switzerland,
Turkey, theUnited States andVenezuela.
./.S/NGBT/13
Page2
stressed theneedtopreserve theflexibility forcountries todefine theirownregulatory framework.
Anotherparticipantexpresseddisappointmentthatmanydevelopedcountrieshadnotsubmittedimproved
offers, butwasencouraged bytheintentions expressed byseveral countries todoso.Onerepresentative
highlighted theneedtoaddress themeans toassist developing countries toachieve universal service
obligations andtofacilitate anincreased share inworld trade intelecommunications services. Itwas
alsonoted thatthelevelandthescope ofliberalization should reflect theMembers 'different levels
ofdevelopment. TheChairman reiterated theneedtosubmit more draftandrevised offers within the
specified timetable, andrecalled thatoffers withphased commitments, where itisnotpossible atthis
timetomake fullcommitments, wasanoption available toparticipants.
5. Under theagenda itemonoutstanding technical andconceptual issues, theChairman announced
thatissues related toregulatory principles would bediscussed inaninformal reflection group, restricted
tofullparticipants, onthebasisofthereference paper distributed on2February. Theresults ofthese
discussions would bereported tothenextformal NGBT meeting inMarch. Withrespect totheissue
ofregulatory principles, henoted thatonewidely expressed viewwastousetheReference Paper on
regulatory principles asthebasisforadditional commitments tobemade inparticipants 'finalschedules.
6. Under theagenda itemonthereview ofparticipants 'responses tothequestionnaire onbasic
telecommunications, therepresentatives ofPoland andColombia introduced theirresponses. The
Chairmanthankedthesedelegationsfortheirsubmissionsandencouragedotherparticipantsandobservers
torespond tothequestionnaire.
7. TheChairmanannouncedthatthenextformalNGBTmeetingwasscheduledforthe22ofMarch
andaninformal meeting wastentatively scheduled on19March. Herecalled thatthescheduled dates
fortheApril meetings wereonthe17and25April. Inaddition, theChairman recalled theadditional
work remaining fortheGroup inthemonth ofApril, including thedrafting oftheProtocol, reviewing
andfinalizing theschedule ofcommitments, andfinally, thedrafting andapproval oftheReport to
theCouncil inTrade inServices.