US embassy cable - 03ROME4020

UNCLAS  ROME 004020 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
GENEVA FOR USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, EAGR, IT, EUN, WTO 
SUBJECT: WTO CANCUN MINISTERIAL: ITALIAN EXPECTATIONS 
 
 
Sensitive But Unclassified -- Not for Internet Distribution 
 
Italian Delegation 
------------------ 
 
1. (U) In advance of next week's WTO ministerial meeting in 
Cancun, DCM hosted a lunch on September 3 for key GOI 
officials with trade responsibilities. The guests included 
Amedeo Teti, Director General for Commercial Agreements, 
Ministry of Productive Activities (Foreign Trade); Massimo 
Leggeri, Deputy Director General for Economic Cooperation, 
MFA; and Massimo Gaiani, Director, Office of EU External 
Relations, European Integration Directorate, MFA.  All three 
officials will be in the Italian delegation at Cancun, which 
will be led by Minister of Productive Activities Antonio 
Marzano. The Italian delegation will also include Marzano's 
Vice Minister Adolfo Urso (in charge of Italian foreign trade 
policy) and Agriculture Minister Gianni Alemanno.  The 
Italian delegation will number about 105 members - 40 
government officials, with the rest made up of 
parliamentarians and union and NGO representatives. 
 
Guarded Optimism 
---------------- 
 
2. (SBU) Both Leggeri and Teti told us they were reasonably 
optimistic that the Cancun meetings would be judged 
successful.  The agreement reached on TRIPS/access to 
medicine has removed a major obstacle that should ensure 
that, at the very least, Cancun will not be seen as a 
failure. What is more difficult is predicting the level of 
success to be expected at the ministerial. Teti noted that 
reaching agreement on frameworks for both the agriculture and 
non-agriculture sectors would be very positive achievements, 
especially if specific numbers could be plugged into those 
frameworks.  Underscoring the difficult issues that remain 
unresolved, however, he also raised an idea currently 
floating among trade negotiators that an interim ministerial 
meeting may be needed next spring to help advance 
negotiations (at a time that would interfere less with the 
U.S. and the EU election calendars). 
 
Agriculture 
----------- 
 
3. (SBU) Our guests agreed that progress in the agriculture 
negotiations remains the key to making progress in other 
areas of the talks. Teti said the U.S. and the EU need to 
continue their close collaboration on agricultural talks -- 
staying focused on the three key pillars (market access, 
export subsidies and credits, and domestic support) was 
needed in order to make progress with other WTO members, 
especially in the developing world. 
 
Geographic Indications 
---------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) DCM raised the EU's continued efforts to expand WTO 
protection of geographical indications, and wondered whether 
the EU may be overly optimistic about making progress at 
Cancun, given continued strong opposition by the U.S. and 
many other WTO members.  Teti responded that he believed 
there was room to bridge the U.S. and EU positions on GIs, 
arguing that our differences are great but not insuperable. 
Both the U.S. and the EU, he said, agree on the need to 
protect GIs, especially in the face of ever greater 
competition from developing countries. The argument is over 
how an eventual deal could incorporate both the U.S. 
preference for using trademark law to protect products, as 
well as the EU position advocating broader protection for 
certain GIs. Without getting into details, Leggeri suggested 
that it might be possible to use existing trademark 
mechanisms more creatively in order to obtain an agreed means 
of GI protection.  Teti suggested that Urso might wish to 
discuss such an idea with USTR Zoellick at Cancun if a 
bilateral meeting could be arranged (with Urso wearing his EU 
presidency hat). (Teti also suggested that Urso may wish to 
push for some sort of commemoration during the talks of the 
second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.) 
 
5. (SBU) Gaiani concluded the GI discussion by noting that 
the issue of GI protection would be increasingly important in 
the EU. In the future, European agriculture would remain 
competitive with other agriculture exporters on the basis of 
 
quality, but not on cost or quantity. He cautioned that the 
hopes of those countries seeking greater access to the EU 
agriculture market would not be realized without greater GI 
protection. 
 
"Singapore" Issues 
------------------ 
 
6. (SBU) Teti reiterated that "for the moment" Italy and the 
EU would continue to oppose unbundling of the four 
"Singapore" issues.  However, he indicated that a more 
flexible position might be possible depending on how the 
talks proceed. 
SEMBLER 
 
 
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 2003ROME04020 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED