Vol. 428 No. 3
78 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade if he has considered the implications for developing countries of the signing of the GATT agreement with particular regard to the multi-fibre agreement and EC export subsidies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ireland, together with the other member states of the European Community, has continually taken the view that there should be special and differential treatment for developing countries in all areas of world trade. In the context of the GATT negotiations, our approach is that any final agreement must reflect this view.
There are 15 separate topics involved in these negotiations and there is still a considerable amount of work to be done on several elements before agreement can be reached. It is not, therefore, possible, at this stage, to forecast the exact content of any final agreement.
