U.S. ready to talk about temporary visas at WTO

By William Schomberg and Jonathan Lynn

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States, responding to a key demand of developing countries, said on Saturday it would discuss giving more temporary access to foreign professionals, injecting renewed optimism into world trade talks.

The U.S. offer -- its second this week in make-or-break talks to secure a breakthrough in long-running trade negotiations -- had ministers and businessmen talking optimistically about improved prospects for a deal.

"When it comes to temporary entry of business professionals we signaled that we are ready to have that conversation in the context of the Doha round," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters.

"But obviously it has to be in conjunction with our consultations with Congress," she said after a session on services at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The issue of granting temporary business visas to skilled foreign workers is controversial as many politicians consider it an immigration issue that should not be included in trade pacts.

But Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who earlier in the week was blamed by many ministers for blocking the talks, welcomed the U.S. move and showed understanding for the needs of U.S. negotiators to coordinate with the U.S. Congress.

CONSTRUCTIVE SIGNS

"These are constructive signs," Nath told reporters. "There is good movement by the United States and by the EU."

Services such as banking, shipping and telecoms account for upwards of 75 percent of rich economies and a majority and growing share of many developing country GDPs.

But they still account for less than 20 percent of world trade. So rich nations with their sophisticated financial sectors and developing countries with their youthful educated populations believe the biggest gains from a trade deal could come in services.

So Saturday's meeting in which around 30 WTO players made broad offers on opening up their service sectors will color the negotiations on the core issues of this week's talks -- farming and industrial goods.

"The signals that were sent were magnificent," said Mexico's ambassador to the WTO, Fernando de Mateo y Venturini, who chairs the services talks.

"I think in services things are moving fast. This is a very nice indication that things might move as well in the other sectors," he told reporters.

Schwab said she would have liked to have seen more on the table on financial services, a U.S. priority, but said the meeting was a "good step".

And the main U.S. services lobby, which had been complaining for years about the neglect of services in the WTO talks, said Saturday's meeting had injected a "whole new dynamic".