WTO names dispute panel in Cuba row

THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) yesterday named three international experts to adjudicate in the EU-US row over investment in Cuba but Brussels insisted it still wanted to find a solution in direct talks with Washington.

WTO director general Mr Renato Ruggiero appointed the three to a dispute panel after a meeting with the top trade diplomats from the two powers made clear they were still far apart on the potentially explosive issue.

But WTO spokesman Mr Keith Rockwell said the move - automatic once the EU had said it wanted to pursue a case through the body's dispute settlement, procedure - "in no way precludes negotiations between the parties in any forum they choose".

And EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan said it remained Brussels' aim "to achieve a negotiated settlement" through bilateral contacts - which he added had made "good progress" in recent weeks but not enough to halt the WTO action.

The three panelists, who have six months to produce a clearly difficult finding, include Mr Arthur Dunkel, Swiss former head of the old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) - which was replaced by the more powerful WTO in 1995.

The other two are Mr Tommy Koh, Singapore's ambassador at large and an experienced international diplomat and Mr Edward Woodfield, New Zealand's top trade negotiator throughout the 1980s and currently an independent consultant.

At the heart of the dispute is the US Helms Burton law which aims to stop non American firms investing in Cuba by leaving them open to prosecution in US courts and by refusing visas to their executives to visit the United States.

The EU - backed by Canada, Mexico and almost all other countries in the 130-member WTO - argues Helms Burton violates open trade rules, partly designed by the United States itself, by extending US judicial reach outside national territory.

But the United States counters that the law, signed by President Bill Clinton after Cuban jets shot down two small planes flown by anti communist exiles near the island a year ago, is a matter of "national security" and outside the WTO purview.