What are the key events that will affect Asian textile and clothing exports to the European Union in 2004? The singlemost important event is the end of the 10-year process leading to the complete elimination of all MFA quotas on December 31. As from January 1, 2005, world trade in textiles and clothing will once again be subject to the international rules enshrined in the WTO, the successor to GATT. It had been hoped that the disappearance of these quotas would coincide with the conclusion of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations. But within six weeks of the collapse of the meeting of WTO Trade Ministers in Cancun in September, the EU's chief trade negotiator, Pascal Lamy, thought it "unlikely" that the negotiations would be completed by the end of 2004. The pessimists - or should they be described as "realists"? - hope that the Doha Round can be completed before the expiry, in mid-2007, of the US President's "fast track" authority, which ensures that the US Congress accepts or rejects the WTO agreement as a whole.
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