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Malaysia : Malaysia undecided on Istanbul Declaration |
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2004-8-3
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While receiving 23 out of 30 responses received from members calling for an endorsement of the Istanbul Declaration that’s demanding a three-year extension to the textile quota system under the Multi Fibre Agreement, Andrew Hong, executive director of the Malaysian Textile Manufacturers Association said, ”It is not fully representative of the general view.”
He stated that that the processwas still on for collecting data, although many of the association’s over 400 members appear to be still undecided.
“As an association, we must be guided by what our members want,” he said.
So far, over 90 textile associations and trade bodies from 49 countries, including Bangladesh, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, have endorsed the declaration that was mooted by a coalition of US and international textile groupings in this last ditch attempt to stop free trade in apparel from Jan 1. Under the current quota system, developed countries like the US set country-by-country limits on imports.
Calling themselves the Global Alliance for Fair Textile Trade (GAFTT), the allaince members argue that with free trade, the textile and apparel industries in many developing countries like Bangladesh would be wiped out by a flood of cheap exports from China. India, too, is expected to be among the key beneficiaries, they said.
“With no quotas in place, China is expected to boost its US market share from its current figure of less than 20% to as much as 75% to 90%. In addition, it is expected that China will capture 50% of the world market,” GAFTT said in its website.
“If China captures its anticipated new market share, 30 million textile and apparel manufacturing jobs will be destroyed worldwide, including 650,000 in the US,” claimed the grouping.
Intense lobbying too, begun last month with over 100 chief executives of US textile companies descend on Washington DC to urge members of Congress to press for an emergency meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for an extension of the quotas.
Both the US and the European Union have formally notified the WTO they intend to move forward with the quota elimination under the terms of its Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, which had been adopted by 147 signatory countries.
Analysts said that a reversal or modification of that agreement would require a consensus of all 147 members, including China, India, and any other country that believed it would gain from the removal of the quota system.
“It was, therefore, unlikely that the Istanbul Declaration would result in the delay of the full integration of textile and apparel trade, although intense lobbying might eventually result in the US and EU maintaining some quota controls on China,” an analyst said. |
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