WTO CANCUN MINISTERIAL: ITALIAN EXPECTATIONS

UNCLAS ROME 004020

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT PASS USTR
GENEVA FOR USTR

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD EAGR IT EUN WTO
SUBJECT: WTO CANCUN MINISTERIAL: ITALIAN EXPECTATIONS


Sensitive But Unclassified -- Not for Internet Distribution

Italian Delegation
--------------


1. (U) In advance of next week's WTO ministerial meeting in
Cancun, DCM hosted a lunch on September 3 for key GOI
officials with trade responsibilities. The guests included
Amedeo Teti, Director General for Commercial Agreements,
Ministry of Productive Activities (Foreign Trade); Massimo
Leggeri, Deputy Director General for Economic Cooperation,
MFA; and Massimo Gaiani, Director, Office of EU External
Relations, European Integration Directorate, MFA. All three
officials will be in the Italian delegation at Cancun, which
will be led by Minister of Productive Activities Antonio
Marzano. The Italian delegation will also include Marzano's
Vice Minister Adolfo Urso (in charge of Italian foreign trade
policy) and Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno. The
Italian delegation will number about 105 members - 40
government officials, with the rest made up of
parliamentarians and union and NGO representatives.

Guarded Optimism
--------------


2. (SBU) Both Leggeri and Teti told us they were reasonably
optimistic that the Cancun meetings would be judged
successful. The agreement reached on TRIPS/access to
medicine has removed a major obstacle that should ensure
that, at the very least, Cancun will not be seen as a
failure. What is more difficult is predicting the level of
success to be expected at the ministerial. Teti noted that
reaching agreement on frameworks for both the agriculture and
non-agriculture sectors would be very positive achievements,
especially if specific numbers could be plugged into those
frameworks. Underscoring the difficult issues that remain
unresolved, however, he also raised an idea currently
floating among trade negotiators that an interim ministerial
meeting may be needed next spring to help advance
negotiations (at a time that would interfere less with the
U.S. and the EU election calendars).

Agriculture
--------------


3. (SBU) Our guests agreed that progress in the agriculture
negotiations remains the key to making progress in other
areas of the talks. Teti said the U.S. and the EU need to
continue their close collaboration on agricultural talks --
staying focused on the three key pillars (market access,
export subsidies and credits, and domestic support) was
needed in order to make progress with other WTO members,
especially in the developing world.

Geographic Indications
--------------


4. (SBU) DCM raised the EU's continued efforts to expand WTO
protection of geographical indications, and wondered whether
the EU may be overly optimistic about making progress at
Cancun, given continued strong opposition by the U.S. and
many other WTO members. Teti responded that he believed
there was room to bridge the U.S. and EU positions on GIs,
arguing that our differences are great but not insuperable.
Both the U.S. and the EU, he said, agree on the need to
protect GIs, especially in the face of ever greater
competition from developing countries. The argument is over
how an eventual deal could incorporate both the U.S.
preference for using trademark law to protect products, as
well as the EU position advocating broader protection for
certain GIs. Without getting into details, Leggeri suggested
that it might be possible to use existing trademark
mechanisms more creatively in order to obtain an agreed means
of GI protection. Teti suggested that Urso might wish to
discuss such an idea with USTR Zoellick at Cancun if a
bilateral meeting could be arranged (with Urso wearing his EU
presidency hat). (Teti also suggested that Urso may wish to
push for some sort of commemoration during the talks of the
second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.)


5. (SBU) Gaiani concluded the GI discussion by noting that
the issue of GI protection would be increasingly important in
the EU. In the future, European agriculture would remain
competitive with other agriculture exporters on the basis of

quality, but not on cost or quantity. He cautioned that the
hopes of those countries seeking greater access to the EU
agriculture market would not be realized without greater GI
protection.

"Singapore" Issues
--------------


6. (SBU) Teti reiterated that "for the moment" Italy and the
EU would continue to oppose unbundling of the four
"Singapore" issues. However, he indicated that a more
flexible position might be possible depending on how the
talks proceed.
SEMBLER


NNNN
2003ROME04020 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED