APEC unlikely to agree on list of green goods for preferential imports by Sept
MOSCOW. Aug 24 (Interfax) - APEC members, who had aimed to unveil a list of environmental goods eligible for preferential import duties of 0% to 5% by September, might not manage to agree on the list by then, Maxim Golovinov, project manager at the APEC National Business Center, said at a press conference at Interfax.
"The negotiations are difficult," Golovinov said, but there has been "serious progress."
APEC leaders adopted a declaration on the green list in November 2011, but it has still not been agreed upon.
"One can say that the list of goods and services that is being discussed now has shrunk several-fold compared to what there was. Discussions began with about 200 goods, not we are talking about several dozen," Golovinov said.
He declined to name specific goods and services. "But we hope that the set goal of agreeing on this list and unveiling it in Vladivostok will be achieved," Golovinov said.
He said the sticking point has been defining the term environmental goods. There is a debate over whether it applies to products manufactured using clean technologies or those that themselves make it possible to avoid harmful environmental impact.
APEC 2012 Business Advisory Council director Leila Mamedzade said APEC countries have decided "not to try to complete the formulation, since this is a process that will apparently not be completed at this stage, but to try to determine the list of these services."
Golovinov said the negotiations are being held up by a number of other problems. "Certain economies are also concerned that this discussion could lead to certain skews in competition, since such goods are not manufactured on their markets," he said.
Discussions are also being held on transport services in various countries, the standards of which do not satisfy the international organization.
"I don't think that I will be making a revolutionary statement if I say that countries that are more technologically advanced are advocating a broader list and are understandably lobbying their own services. Countries that produce such goods to a lesser degree are trying to reduce this list," Mamedzade said.
Russia has taken a moderate position on this issue - while it is not trying to reduce the list, it is trying to rationally assess the impact of any given points, Mamedzade said.
