Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to take part in today's debate. I have been working closely with the Minister, Deputy Coughlan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Ahern, as we prepare for the intensive and hugely important negotiations that lie ahead in Hong Kong. It is in that spirit of coherence that the Government is approaching the Hong Kong trade talks.

Today, on World AIDS Day, we are reminded of the havoc the disease has wreaked on Africa, a continent already struggling to combat poverty on many fronts. The world's poorest countries — most of them in Africa — are not on target to reach the millennium development goals. To achieve the millennium development goals on target, the UN Secretary General has said that we must break with the "business as usual" approach and dramatically accelerate and scale up action between now and 2015.

In May, EU member states agreed that collectively they would reach the UN target for development assistance by 2015. In September, in New York, the Taoiseach and I, on behalf of Ireland, announced that we would reach the UN target of 0.7% of gross national product by 2012. That is three years ahead of the European Union and UN targets. The decision by the EU to set a 2010 interim target and 2015 final target will bring an extra €20 billion into development worldwide. There has also been welcome progress in the momentous year of 2005 on the debt issue at the G8 summit in Gleneagles. Now, as the Hong Kong meeting approaches, we have a chance to make trade work for development. The UN has estimated that trade has the potential to lift developing countries out of poverty on a scale that could generate many times the benefits derived from aid alone. The figure is available internationally that for every pound, euro or dollar of aid, a trade concession is valued at seven times more.

Trade is the exit strategy from aid dependence for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa which we seek to serve through our aid programme. The Irish aid programme has been well evaluated because of this. Some 80% of what is spent in the bilateral programme is expended on the least developed countries, with 50% of the overall programme being spent on them. The Doha development agenda is intended to be a development round. It is meant to create the conditions whereby poor countries can take advantage of globalisation.

Cancún failed in large part because it did not meaningfully address the concerns of the poorest countries. A failure in Hong Kong risks the complete breakdown of the round, which would not be in anybody's interest, least of the lesser developed countries. It should be clear that my priority in the trade talks, as it is in the aid programme, is to assist the world's poorest countries. All developing countries are not the same. Brazil and India do not have the same needs as Ethiopia or Zambia. The least developed countries do not have the same capacity to compete on world markets as the more advanced developing countries and so they require special treatment.

The European Union is used to being accused of demanding greater openness for trade in industrial products and services while at the same time protecting the agriculture sector to an extent that distorts world markets and makes it impossible for producers in developing countries to make a living. The issue is far more complex, and the truth is that the more advanced developing countries are much better placed than the poorer ones to take advantage of European Union agricultural trade concessions. The poorest developing countries benefit from preferential access to the European Union market. The reduction of these preferences will negatively impact on the economies of the least developed countries and set back their poverty eradication efforts.

What does Ireland want for developing countries at the Hong Kong meeting? We wish to see concrete results in a number of areas. We want other rich nations to agree to eliminate duties and quotas on all products from least developed countries, with immediate effect. The EU has done this since 2001 under its everything but arms initiative, with some temporary exceptions. More work needs to be done on this initiative to make it a more effective tool for poverty reduction, but it is an important starting point, with the European Union leading from the front.

We are looking for real progress on special and differential treatment for least developed countries. This means the poorest countries should be allowed to take on WTO rules at their own pace. They should not be obliged to take on any new commitments under this round. According to Pascal Lamy, this should be a round for free for least developed countries. Another key element of the development package which should emerge at Hong Kong is a positive outcome on TRIPS and public health. Ireland strongly supports the right of developing countries to access affordable medicines to combat HIV-AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases that are robbing the human capacity of Africa to bring itself from poverty.

We are determined to strike a deal for African cotton producers at Hong Kong. West African cotton producers are among the most efficient in the world but their economies have been adversely affected by depressed world market prices caused largely by trade barriers and subsidies. In Geneva in July 2004, we agreed that the cotton situation would be dealt with ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically. The European Union has put forward proposals for action on cotton in all three pillars of the agricultural negotiations: market access, domestic support and export competition. Under the proposals we are offering to improve market access and reduce or remove subsidies either from day one of implementation of a Doha agreement, or very shortly thereafter.

The proposals have been well received and it remains to be seen whether other developed countries will follow suit and follow our lead at a European level. The European Commission will bring a €1 billion package on aid for trade to Hong Kong. The package was announced by the Commission President, Mr. Barroso, at Gleneagles and is intended to help least developed countries to operate in an increasingly complex international trading environment. The Hong Kong package will include both trade related capacity building and measures to compensate for the negative effects of trade reforms.

I recently had the privilege and honour as Minister of State representing Ireland to support an EU Presidency initiative whereby member states would collectively match the €1 billion package pledged by President Barroso with a package tabled as bilateral donors. We will then be giving assistance of the order of €2 billion through the Commission and member state levels to improve the capacity of these countries to trade in our developed world markets. I will work towards a significant increase in Ireland's aid for trade spending within the context of our own aid programme so developing countries will have the capacity both to gain from measures within the Doha Round and to withstand the short-term losses that are inevitably involved in a multilateral liberalisation of trade.

Aid for trade should be complementary to, rather than an alternative to, progress on the issues of real concern to the least developed countries. In that regard, it is my pleasure to announce here that next year Ireland will increase its contribution to €500,000 to the global trust fund for the Doha development agenda as part of our commitment to increase aid for trade. Progress is being made to enhance the integrated framework for trade related technical assistance for least developed countries. The enhanced integrated framework will have greater resources and wider scope, and Ireland is committed to predictable funding at the appropriate time.

If we are serious about the millennium development goals, we must take action in Hong Kong. We must try to ensure that developing countries get a fair deal this time around. I warn those who are overly ambitious or idealistic. I state this with respect to members of the Opposition who believe that seismic change can be achieved through these multilateral institutions. This is the first time development has been an explicit focus in the efforts of the international community, particularly in a trade context. I attended a summit at the UN in New York in September with the Taoiseach, where we announced the ambitious targets set for 2012. As we take in that summit and the Gleneagles package, it is fair to state that idealistic campaigners and people such as Bob Geldof and Bono had more ambitious aspirations for these events and this next round than reality dictates.

I state this as a word of warning, as these multilateral processes are very difficult and complicated. It is hard to achieve great breakthroughs. Nevertheless I am honoured and privileged to be a Minister of State with responsibility for development in 2005 as a breakthrough has been achieved for the medium and long term. The development agenda is on the table and will continue to be for the years ahead. Europe has set a pace and set targets. Last March in Paris, Europe made a strong declaration on aid effectiveness. It also took the lead on setting the 2010 and 2015 interim and final targets for the achievement of the 0.7% of gross domestic product goal. I was proud to attend those meetings where we led the charge in insisting on setting the targets.

The 2010 interim target will bring an extra €20 billion into the development funding for aid. We must now move on the trade issue, as it is important. We should not be too distracted by an idea that seismic changes can be achieved in just one round or negotiation. When a person expressed disappointment to me after the September summit in New York, I contended that it was the UN rather than IBM. Sometimes the multilateral institutions do not move at the pace at which the public is prepared to move. I applaud the public for the campaigns mounted this year and I urge it to continue so the institutions might move more quickly to the benefit of developing countries which may have conditions of abject poverty.

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