OMANI VIEWS ON GCC CUSTOMS UNION NOTIFICATION TO THE WTO

C O N F I D E N T I A L MUSCAT 000167 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE SBU DELIBERATIVE PROCESS STATE PASS TO USTR (J.BUNTIN) E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019-03-08 TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD USTR WTO GCC MU SUBJECT: OMANI VIEWS ON GCC CUSTOMS UNION NOTIFICATION TO THE WTO REF: a) STATE 19377 CLASSIFIED BY: L. Victor Hurtado, CDA, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Embassy - Muscat; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Pol-Econ Chief delivered reftel points March 8 to Saeed al-Riyami, Ministry of Commerce and Industry trade negotiator, and urged Oman to lobby for withdrawal of the GCC Enabling Clause notification. Al-Riyami replied that he understood U.S. concerns over the GCC's notification decision and acknowledged that Oman had made a commitment in its WTO accession package to comply with the notification requirements under GATT Article XXIV. He continued that Oman was not actively seeking a change in notification coverage and was amenable to the GCC Customs Union remaining under GATT Article XXIV for notification purposes. "Other states" in the GCC, however, were pushing for a switch to the Enabling Clause. ¶2. (SBU) Al-Riyami shared further that the GCC countries have been seeking a "compromise" with the Europeans in order to avoid direct confrontation at the WTO. He said that he planned to travel to Geneva later in the week to attend a meeting of GCC representatives on March 12 to discuss this subject internally (and perhaps with the U.S. and others) before the March 13 meeting of the WTO Committee on Trade and Development. HURTADO To view the entire SMART message, go to URL http://repository.state.sgov.gov/_layouts/OSS SearchResults.aspx?k=messageid:17796ec6-cd83- 43a1-8cb7-a0f0d189a2ed