Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

The sixth ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation will take place in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. Hong Kong is not the end point of the current round of WTO negotiations and it was never intended as such. However, it will be an important milestone which will register progress in the Doha development agenda negotiations and as such provide a decisive step and create the right basis for the final and decisive stages of negotiations with a view to concluding the round late in 2006 or early 2007. It is therefore an important and timely meeting.

I propose to map out recent developments chronologically now that we are in the last straight before Hong Kong. I will then provide analysis of the issues that arise under the core areas of the DDA negotiations and Ireland's position on each, before concluding with the current state of play in the lead-in to Hong Kong.

The Doha Round was launched in November 2001 as a broad-based round across a full spectrum of core areas of agriculture, industrial goods and services and included a strong development dimension aimed at assisting developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, integrate into the world trading system. Substantial mandates are also aimed at streamlining and further strengthening WTO rules, in the areas of special and differential treatment and on implementation issues. Ireland fully supported the launch of a broad based multilateral round which is regarded as the best way to address the challenges resulting from significant and far-reaching economic and technological changes, promote equitable growth and development and to respond in a balanced manner to the interests of all WTO members, in particular the developing countries.

Although at its launch, the round was scheduled to conclude by January 2005, this did not prove possible for several reasons. The fifth WTO conference, in Cancún, failed to progress the negotiations and this resulted in a prolonged period of inactivity during which, for example, the EU conducted a detailed reflection of its strategic approach to WTO negotiations.

Effectively, the DDA negotiations were re-launched in July 2004, when the WTO membership adopted a framework agreement across core areas of the negotiations as a basis for a final decisive push to conclude a successful round. The EU's acceptance of the objective of the abolition of agricultural export subsidies, on the basis of parallel reform by other WTO members of their competing subsidies, coupled with the continued reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, was the major impetus towards reaching the July agreement.

Key elements of the July 2004 framework, endorsed by the WTO membership, included the following. In agriculture, WTO members agreed to substantially cut trade distorting farm supports, to eliminate trade distorting export competition practices and to a significant opening of agricultural markets. In industrial goods the framework agreement introduced a set of precise guidelines to cut tariffs and in services it set a fixed date tor the submission of improved offers.

For development it represented positive progress given the proposed elimination of export subsidies, less agricultural subsidies and market access improvements, which was combined with a strong call for duty-free and quota-free access for the world's poorest countries. It calls for a re-enforcement of the disciplines on special and differential treatment in favour of developing countries.

The July 2004 agreement also saw the launch of negotiations to simplify customs procedures otherwise known as trade facilitation. It was agreed that in the months following the July 2004 framework agreement, WTO members would further develop the framework into concrete, detailed and specific commitments and figures with a view to completing the round as soon as possible thereafter.

It is fair to say that negotiations in the 18 months since the framework agreement have been slow. More recently, however, there has been a renewed impetus in the DDA negotiations and a flurry of activity with the submission of offers by key WTO members, in particular, the United States. The EU, for its part, tabled a revised conditional offer on 28 October.

Specifically, the EU offer on agriculture proposes high tariff cuts especially in the higher tariffs, a very substantial cut in trade distorting domestic supports to the extent the EU has reached the limit of its bargaining position, and a commitment to the total elimination of export refunds by an agreed date if other WTO members eliminate their export subsidies in parallel. Finally, there is a firm commitment to differential treatment for developing countries.

The WTO negotiations on agriculture have been a hot topic, in both Geneva and Brussels, of late. A key focus of the debate has been the need to ensure balance between the key areas of the DDA. At the heart of the EU mandate is the imperative for balance within and between the pillars of agriculture and the other core areas of the DDA negotiations, most notably in the areas of industrial goods and services, while ensuring the delivery of the development dimension of the round. Ireland, together with a number of other EU member states and, in particular, France, has insisted at all times during the negotiations on agriculture that the European Commission negotiates within the ambit of the agricultural mandate adopted by EU Council of Ministers. My colleague, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, and the Ministers of State will highlight in their statement to the House developments in the DDA agriculture negotiations.

It is important to stress again that the EU's offer to our trading partners was explicitly made conditional on the movement by other WTO members in areas of the DDA negotiations of particular interest to the European Union outside of agriculture. Thus, EU member states are seeking reciprocal commitments from other WTO members in a range of areas across the full spectrum of the DDA, most notably in respect of improved market access for European exporters in industrial goods and internationally traded services sectors.

As regards industrial goods, EU member states are pressing for the adoption of a formula that will drive down tariffs. The use of this formula will help compress tariff ranges and get rid of high and escalating tariffs. The most recent talks in Geneva confirm an increasing convergence among the WTO membership, with large WTO majority support for entering negotiations to cut tariffs on this basis.

Ireland fully supports the thrust of the EU approach in the industrial tariff negotiations which are in line with our broad objectives for the round. From Ireland's perspective, we have strong strategic commercial interests and ambitions in securing tariff reductions across a broad range of sectors, including in the areas of pharmaceuticals, chemicals, ICT and related electronic machinery sectors. In addition to tariff reduction, Ireland supports proposals to seek reductions in or elimination of non-tariff barriers which have the potential to limit trade. These include, for example, unfair licensing regimes, costly labelling requirements or complex certification techniques. Under the Doha Round, we would like to see a renewed and strong commitment to identify and remove unjustified non-tariff barriers.

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