US embassy cable - 04ANKARA1917

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 001917 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EB, EB/TPP/MTA/IPC AND EUR/SE 
DEPT PLEASE PASS USTR FOR LERRION 
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO 
DEPT PASS LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR ELAINE WU 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETRD, KTEX, KIPR, TU 
SUBJECT:  Background for USTR Zoellick's Meeting with 
State Minister Tuzmen 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
 
Ref:  (A) Ankara 1234 and previous (B) Ankara 1157 
(C) Ankara 977 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
 
1. (SBU) Turkish trade officials tell us that, in the 
April 5 meeting with USTR Robert Zoellick, State 
Minister Kursad Tuzmen plans to focus on multilateral 
trade issues.  The Foreign Trade Undersecretariat told 
us it believes that USTR's January 2004 letter to 
counterparts has revitalized the WTO negotiations. 
While Turkey is cautious on lowering tariffs in 
agriculture, Tuzmen would like to exchange views on this 
as well as on industrial tariffs and Singapore issues. 
Foreign Trade told us that Tuzmen does not plan to raise 
bilateral trade issues such as U.S. textiles and apparel 
quotas on Turkey or Qualifying Industrial Zones. 
However, he may want to seek Zoellick's views on the 
private sector initiatives to delay lifting textile 
quotas.  USTR may want to raise problems in Turkish 
protection of intellectual property.  End Summary. 
 
 
2. (SBU) Econoff met with Husnu Dilemre, the Foreign 
Trade U/S Deputy Director General for Agreements, on 
March 31 to discuss USTR Robert Zoellick's April 5 
meeting with State Minister Kursad Tuzmen.  Dilemre 
confirmed that Tuzmen's focus for the meeting is on WTO 
rather than bilateral issues, and he provided an 
overview of Turkish positions in the Doha Development 
Agenda.  He noted that Tuzmen does not plan to raise the 
Qualifying Industrial Zones proposal or bilateral 
textile quotas.  He stated that Tuzmen would likely be 
accompanied in the meeting by Aylin Bebekoglu, Chief of 
Section for WTO Issues at the Foreign Trade U/S; 
Bilgehan Sasmaz, Commercial Counselor at the Turkish 
Embassy in Washington; and possibly another Foreign 
Trade official to be determined. 
 
 
WTO Issues 
---------- 
 
 
3. (SBU) Agriculture:  Dilemre opined that Zoellick's 
letter to trade ministers early in 2004 had led to a 
"changed world" for the WTO talks.  For Turkey, market 
access in agriculture is the main issue and elimination 
of export subsidies a key target.  Turkey has taken a 
cautious approach on tariffs due to concerns that that 
sharp tariff cuts will leave Turkish farmers unable to 
compete with developed country subsidies.  Dilemre 
suggested that Tuzmen would raise the issue of special 
and differential treatment for developing countries. 
Dilemre stated that Turkey has reservations about the 
current proposal blending linear tariff cuts on some 
goods and a more ambitious Swiss formula in others. 
Turkey, like the EU, would like to see an outcome in 
which more tariffs (at least 10 percent of the total) 
are subject to linear reductions rather than Swiss 
formula cuts.  Dilemre noted that, while Turkish and EU 
positions are close on this issue, Turkey is not 
required to coordinate its positions in the agriculture 
talks with the EU since the Turkey-EU customs union does 
not cover this sector.  He added that Turkey, like the 
USG, did not believe that cotton should be the subject 
of special treatment within the agriculture 
negotiations. 
 
 
4. (SBU) Industrial Goods:  Dilemre said that Turkey and 
the United States shared much common ground on cutting 
tariffs in the non-agricultural market access talks.  He 
commented that, under the customs union, Turkey 
coordinated closely with the EU in the WTO negotiations 
on manufactured goods.  On the Singapore issues, Dilemre 
stated that Turkey agreed with the U.S. position on 
trade facilitation. 
 
 
5. (SBU) Textile Quotas/Chinese Competition:  Dilemre 
pointed out that the American Textiles Manufacturers 
Institute (ATMI) had requested a meeting with Tuzmen 
during this visit to Washington.  In Istanbul in early 
March,  Turkish garment and textile manufacturing 
associations, together with ATMI and the American 
Manufacturers' Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) called for 
joint efforts against Chinese textile exports and a 
delay in lifting quotas beyond 2005.  Business 
associations from a range of European and African 
countries have since joined the Istanbul Declaration. 
Dilemre said the GOT has not endorsed its industry's 
position on quotas, and, given the need for consensus in 
order to change the 2005 deadline, he does not expect 
any concrete results to emerge from this lobbying. 
However, he suggested that the WTO members might want to 
acknowledge the Istanbul Declaration by considering a 
sectoral approach for textiles in the talks on 
industrial goods and/or a separate meeting in Geneva 
with business associations on this subject.  Dilemre 
opined that Tuzmen, though not focused on this issue, 
might seek Zoellick's views on the Istanbul Declaration. 
 
 
Special 301 
----------- 
 
 
6. (SBU) Dilemre told us that Tuzmen will be briefed on 
intellectual property rights issues with the expectation 
that they will be raised in the context of the Special 
301 review.  Embassy recommends that USTR press Tuzmen 
on these issues, particularly data exclusivity 
protection.  Ref B provides information on the lack of 
protection for pharmaceuticals companies' confidential 
test data and on a new decree on reference pricing which 
could have a very negative impact on foreign drug 
companies.  AIFD, the local research-based industry 
association, and officials at the Foreign Trade 
Undersecretariat have since told the Embassy that the 
GOT Health Ministry is considering changes in the 
pricing decree which would mitigate the adverse impact 
on research-based companies.  The GOT has also promised 
to announce a policy on data exclusivity in the near 
future, though this might include an unacceptably long 
transition period.  Dilemre told us that Tuzmen recently 
met with an AIFD delegation to discuss these concerns. 
 
 
7. (SBU) The Embassy's input for the Special 301 review 
(ref C) comments on problems in copyright and trademark 
enforcement.  In March, the Turkish Parliament approved 
copyright amendments to improve enforcement by banning 
street sales of all copyright products and authorizing 
all law enforcement units to make seizures.  However, it 
also reduces penalties for piracy, with the rationale 
that current penalties are perceived by the judicial 
system to be too severe and are thus not applied at all. 
Edelman