Bernard J. Durkan
Ceist:108 Mr. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans for the future discussions in the context of the WTO; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27050/03]
Written Answers. - World Trade Negotiations.
The recent failure to reach agreement on a framework for the continuation of negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda at the Cancún WTO Ministerial is very regrettable. 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.
A period of internal reflection and consultation has now commenced among EU member states and within and between the EU Commission and EU Council to assess the implications of the failure at Cancún and the setback for the DDA. This is appropriate before reaching any conclusions about the position of the European Community regarding the trade negotiations or the next steps to be taken. This also allows for critical consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of the WTO as an organisation and what needs to be done to enable it to achieve its objectives. Ireland is participating fully in this reflections process.
The outcome of these reflections will have an important part to play in shaping and deciding on the priorities ahead. The outputs from this period of reflection will feed into, for example, the discussion and consideration of trade issues at the forthcoming informal EU Trade Ministers meeting in early December, to be followed by the scheduled meeting of the WTO General Council, in Geneva, on 15 December.