First and foremost, Keidanren, The Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, highly appreciates that WTO member countries agreed November 14 to launch a WTO new round at the Doha Ministerial Conference. Especially after experiencing the debacle of Seattle Ministerial Meeting, we understand that many members have been making special efforts to bridge their different positions and that all members have finally united in their willingness to show political flexibility. We firmly believe that the world economy will greatly benefit from a new WTO round.
The approval of the accession of China and Chinese Taipei to the WTO is one of the most positive outcomes for the Japanese business community. While some industrial sectors may face serious competition with China, it is clear that China, which is now incorporated into the WTO rule-bound system, will bring great benefits to the Japanese economy in the long run. Japanese corporations should be well prepared to actively take advantage of this opportunity. China and Chinese Taipei are expected to improve a domestic institutional framework to implement the WTO agreements, particularly those related to Intellectual Property Rights.
Keidanren has consistently and firmly requested that the negotiation on investment rulemaking and the review of the anti-dumping agreement should be a part of broad and wide range of trade negotiations. In that context, we evaluate those issues in the declaration as following.