For Immediate Release July 31, 2004 Contact: John Goyer (202) 289-7460 x 22 CSI Welcomes WTO Agreement to Move Ahead with Doha Round Trade Talks (Washington, DC) Norman R. Sorensen, Chairman of the Coalition of Service Industries (CSI) said today that "The Agreement reached by the WTO General Council today, is a very important step forward for services, for world prosperity, and for the WTO itself." "Coming against a backdrop of fear of another Cancun-style failure, the Agreement to move forward on agriculture is very significant because it will allow the hard work of services trade liberalization to begin in earnest," Sorensen said. "Had trade ministers not been able to agree, the economic benefits of liberalization would have been further delayed, and the WTO as an institution would have been seriously diminished." Sorensen praised US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. "Ambassador Zoellick has given all his skill and energy over the past seven months to breathing life back into the Doha Round. He deserves a major share of the credit for the agreement just reached," Sorensen said, noting in particular the successful efforts of USTR to ensure that services were treated on an equal footing in the final text, which they were not in the first draft. To date, only 44 WTO members have tabled services offers. More and much better offers are needed to achieve a success. This process will take, at a minimum, many months. Services issues were not a major source of controversy during this week¹s meetings in Geneva, but the sector would benefit most from a commercially significant global trade pact. According to a July 2004 University of Michigan study, the complete dismantling of all barriers to trade in goods, agriculture, and services would result in a $542 billion welfare gain to the US economy. The majority of that - $466 billion -- would be in services. Services are the largest component of the US economy, representing about 80% of private sector GDP and 80% of private sector employment. More than 1.3 million new US services jobs have been created since January 2003. Last year, US crossborder exports of services reached $307 billion, with a surplus of over $50 billion. Worldwide sales of services by foreign affiliates of US companies were $432 billion in 2001. In addition to his post as Chairman of CSI, Norman Sorensen is President of Principal International a member company of the Principal Financial Group. # # # # # CSI is the leading business organization dedicated to reducing barriers to U.S. services exports and mobilizing support for domestic U.S. policies, including tax policies, which enhance the global competitiveness of its members. CSI was formed in 1982 to ensure that U.S. trade in services would become a central goal of U.S. trade policy and trade negotiations. It played a major role in the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and in the advocacy effort leading to the 1997 World Trade Organization (WTO) Basic Telecommunications and Financial Services Agreements. CSI’s knowledge of the process of services trade negotiations, its ties to the WTO and its network of relationships with governments and industry in other countries are unmatched. For a complete list of CSI members, visit our website at www.uscsi.org.