JORDAN GPA ACCESSION UPDATE

UNCLAS AMMAN 005514 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE PASS USTR FOR NED SAUMS AND JOHN ELLIS STATE PASS USAID FOR ANE/MEA TOM OLIVER USDOC FOR 4520/ITA/MAC/ONE/P.THANOS GENEVA FOR WTO DEL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETRD EAID JO WTRO SUBJECT: JORDAN GPA ACCESSION UPDATE REF: AMMAN 1366 ¶1. (sbu) Jordan's number two trade official, Samer Tawil, told econcouns and econoff September 24 that the GOJ has nearly completed drafting its initial entities offer for GPA accession. He said the draft should be completed and delivered to the Prime Ministry for clearance through the cabinet by October 5. He said Jordan was prepared to announce the fact that the draft is before the cabinet for approval at the October 7 WTO meeting in Geneva, and would pledge to have the offer submitted by the end of October as planned. Tawil appreciated the assistance the ministry had received from USAID in developing the data base needed to create the offer, and for the legal technical assistance provided to help structure the draft. ¶2. (sbu) Comment: Tawil said the GOJ was interested in completing the accession process as quickly as possible. Pointing to the beneficial role played by USTR in the negotiations for Jordan's WTO accession, Tawil said Jordan would welcome and hoped for similar cooperation with USTR in moving Jordan's offer through the plurilateral negotiations phase once the offer is submitted. In addition to the subjects identified for the Joint Commission by Minister Bashir (septel),USTR might want to consider adding GPA accession to the Joint Commission agenda. GNEHM