Trevor Sargent
Ceist:154 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will report on his approach to a pro-development position to be taken by Ireland at the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Qatar. [29165/01]
Written Answers. - WTO Meetings.
Throughout the preparations for the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, 9-13 November 2001, the Department of Foreign Affairs worked to ensure development considerations were fully considered in our national position and in the EU's approach.
The Department of Foreign Affairs believes a new comprehensive round of global trade negotiations is in the interest of developing countries. The 49 least developed countries have a 0.4% share in global trade and attract less than 1% of global investment flows. From a development perspective, future WTO negotiations on tariffs, market access and trade in services hold out the prospect of increasing the integration of developing countries into the international economy.
The negotiations at Doha included matters of profound interest to developing countries. The Department of Foreign Affairs co-ordinated closely with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on such key issues as the WTO's TRIPS Agreement and access to public health, the relationship between TRIPS and the preservation of biodiversity, the handling of labour and environmental issues in the WTO, market access, the burden on developing countries of implementing the Uruguay Round agreements and future funding commitments to support trade capacity building in developing countries.
An officer from the development co-operation division of the Department of Foreign Affairs participated in Ireland's official delegation to the WTO Ministerial meeting. Ireland Aid also financially supported the attendance of two Irish development NGOs and the development officer of the ICTU at the Doha meeting.
I am satisfied the ministerial declaration adopted at Doha, which launches a new global round of trade negotiations, represents a good result for developing countries. It will see comprehensive negotiations on issues such as market access, tariffs and services which could see further market liberalisation in sectors where developing countries have significant export advantages.
The Irish delegation at Doha actively supported EU efforts to secure a ministerial declaration which asserted that the TRIPS Agreement contained sufficient flexibility to ensure that poor countries could obtain access to HIV-AIDS medicines at affordable prices through compulsory licensing. The ministerial declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, adopted at Doha, emphasises the rights of WTO members to protect public health and to promote access to medicines for all. The declaration is a major contribution to clarifying the relationship between the international legal framework on patent protection and the need to ensure life saving medicines are available, at affordable prices, to coun tries suffering from serious crises such as HIV-AIDS, malaria or TB.