The world's leading economies urged to strengthen the WTO Agreement on subsidies
In a Joint statement released Tuesday, representatives of the European Union, the United States and Japan declared their determination to strengthen existing rules against industrial subsidies and condemned the practice of forced technology transfer.
At the meeting, held in Washington, DC, EU, USA and Japan agreed that the current list of subsidies prohibited by the rules of the world trade organization (WTO), is insufficient to solve the problem of subsidization of market and trade that exists in certain jurisdictions. So they came to the conclusion that the WTO Agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures should be extended to take account of new technologies.
Structural reform of the WTO and leveling the playing field in global trade is a key priority for the EU, stressed in the European Commission.
"This Joint statement is an important step in addressing some fundamental issues that distort the global trade. The EU has consistently affirmed that multilateral negotiations can be effective in addressing these problems," said trade Commissioner of the EU, Phil Hogan.
the Signatories of the statement also confirmed the importance of technology transfer for global trade and investment and discussed the basic rules that should be introduced to prevent the practice of forced technology transfer in third countries.