Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 23 Oct 2003

Vol. 573 No. 2

Written Answers. - World Trade Negotiations.

Eamon Ryan

Ceist:

34 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will report on the recent Cancún world trade summit; her Department's views as to the reason the negotiations broke down; the role the Government took in the failed negotiations; and the Government's views on the policy of introducing the so-called Singapore issues into the negotiations when other matters such as export subsidies had not been resolved. [24596/03]

Eamon Ryan

Ceist:

36 Mr. Eamon Ryan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the next stage in the progression of the Doha development round of trade talks; her views on whether there is a need to change the structures and working arrangements of the WTO; and if the Government can use its stewardship of the EU presidency to promote such a review. [24597/03]

Gay Mitchell

Ceist:

43 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will make a statement on the recent WTO meeting in Cancún. [21126/03]

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

67 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the Government's assessment of the implications for the developing world of the collapse of the recent WTO talks in Cancún; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21093/03]

Joe Sherlock

Ceist:

71 Mr. Sherlock asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will make a statement on the implications of the collapse of the World Trade Organisation talks in Cancún. [24495/03]

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Mr. M. Ahern):

I propose to answer Questions Nos. 34, 36, 43, 67 and 71 together.

The recent failure to reach agreement on a framework for the continuation of negotiations under the Doha development agenda at the Cancún WTO ministerial meeting is regrettable. As such, this is a serious setback for the DDA. The major losers from the failure to agree at Cancún are developing and least developed countries as the DDA is designed to effectively address their needs and to assist them integrate into the world economy.

Trade matters are a Community competence where the EU Commission negotiates on behalf of the EU member states on the basis of proposals from the EU Commission which are agreed by EU Ministers. There was a substantial amount of technical preparation and negotiation on all the issues across the full Doha development agenda in the lead-in to Cancún. The basic, often detailed, parameters both of the further negotiations and, in many cases, the actual contents of the future agreements were discussed and elaborated on all the big issues on the DDA, including agriculture, services, non-agricultural market access and the four so-called Singapore issues.

Ireland engaged extensively in the preparation of EU submissions to the WTO under each of the above headings and in the development of the EU negotiating mandates across the full spectrum of issues under the Doha agenda. The Cancún conference did not fail for lack of effort on the part of the European Union. The EU was among the most persistent advocates for a successful conference and negotiated in good faith at Cancún. For its part, the EU, among all WTO partners, provided significant inputs to the WTO in Geneva in the lead-in to Cancún. During this period EU member states agreed the substantial reforms in agriculture under the medium term review proposals in June 2003.

Although the substantive work had already been done on the DDA by the end of August in preparation for Cancún, the gaps between the WTO members proved to be wider than could be bridged during the five day conference for reasons of substance, tactics and organisation. Thus, for example, the newly established group of 21 developing countries, including Brazil, China and India, displayed at an early stage of the conference a strong reluctance to move from their established positions on all issues. With progress at the meeting being virtually impossible, therefore, the chairman of the conference, the Mexican Foreign Minister, closed the discussions shortly after the substantive negotiations had begun. In so far as the Singapore issues are concerned, the EU, in an effort to rescue the negotiations, displayed complete flexibility in relation to the manner in which these issues might be dealt with in these further negotiations.

The Government has always and will continue to support a multilateral rules based trading system and a strong WTO and we will work with our EU partners and other WTO members to achieve a positive outcome to the Doha development agenda. This approach represents the best prospect to achieve further progressive trade liberalisation, while protecting the trade interests of least developed economies. Notwithstanding the setback at Cancún, Ireland is fully committed to the full implementation of the Doha mandates.