(C) ISRAEL WILL NOT SUBMIT REVISED OFFER FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 004246 SIPDIS STATE PLEASE PASS TO USTR EASUMS GENEVA FOR USTR - ALICIA GREENIDGE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/06/2015 TAGS: ECON ETRD IS ECONOMY AND FINANCE SUBJECT: (C) ISRAEL WILL NOT SUBMIT REVISED OFFER FOR SERVICES NEGOTIATIONS REF: A) SECSTATE 103543 B) SECSTATE 81619 Classified By: Acting Economic Counselor Robert Tansey for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Econoff delivered reftels to Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor staff. Yoram Zara (Director Multilateral Agreements Division); Yair Shiran (Director International Agreements and Trade Policy) and Ami Levin (Multilateral Trade Division, and POC for North America) all stated that Israel has no intention to submit a revised offer for the services negotiations "until progress is made on NAMA and Agriculture negotiations." ¶2. (C) Shiran commented that Israel was one of only twenty countries that submitted an initial offer on time and has "done its part" in advancing the services negotiations. He also noted that Israel has not submitted any requests for revisions of other WTO members proposals and does not feel there is much for Israel to gain in service negotiations, since they enjoy relatively free market access via bilateral FTAs. ¶3. (C) Commenting on the importance of NAMA and Agriculture negotiations, Shiran said that Israel finds the "request and offer" process most important, and that they are seeking specific market access for specific products. As an example he noted IT products access in Brazil. Turning to the agriculture negotiations, Shiran commented that Israeli flexibility in submitting a revised services offer would be "made easier" if they maintained the right to be considered a developing country. "In light of heavy US and EU subsidies for agribusiness," he argued that the only option for protecting the "relatively un-subsidized and open Israeli agriculture market" was Israel's ability to maintain some tariff protection. ¶4. (C) Finally, Yoram Zara detailed that there is an internal decision making process occurring regarding a possible revised services offer. He noted that the one area where Israel might be willing to make a revised offer was in the computer field as a member of the Friends of Computer Services Group. However, he reiterated that any offer in the services negotiations was tied to progress in other areas. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** KURTZER