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