Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 194: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the situation regarding the World Trade Organisation talks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34255/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The WTO Ministerial meeting convened in July last in Geneva ended without agreement on agriculture and NAMA modalities despite emerging convergence on a range of headline numbers and detailed technical issues. The sticking point was irreconcilable differences between US, India and China on the extent of remedies that developing countries would be allowed to apply to counter import surges in agricultural products that might arise following the import tariff cuts proposed. However, a range of other issues had not at that stage been addressed and no formal agreement had been reached in agriculture on the points under discussion.

In closing the Ministerial conference, DG Lamy and other participants spoke of the need to preserve the progress achieved, notwithstanding the failure to agree on all matters. However the process for moving the negotiations forward from this point is far from clear. Discussions are continuing at official level with meetings among the so-called G7 group of countries (EU, US, Brazil, India, Japan, Australia and China). However, the constraints of the forthcoming US and Indian elections and the appointment of a new Commission are expected to delay serious political decision-making for the foreseeable future. While it cannot be ruled out that attempts will be made to bank the convergence already achieved, the negotiations are conducted according to the premise that "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed".

As one of the most open economies in the world, Ireland wanted a comprehensive, ambitious and balanced trade deal. This remains the case. We were strongly committed to supporting trade in the least developed countries and have already given them duty and quota free access to EU markets under the "everything but arms" measure. This also remains the case.

In the negotiations we firmly defended our agriculture interests and also sought the best advantage for our industry and services; the other 150+ countries equally had their ambitions.

I and my colleagues in Government, up to and including the Taoiseach, took every opportunity to outline Ireland's dissatisfaction at the direction of the negotiations and the serious difficulties that could emerge for Irish agriculture from some of the proposals on the table. We used our position in the negotiations to influence matters and to mitigate the more damaging aspects of the proposals.

The fact that no deal was agreed on this occasion does not cause any immediate disruption in the international trading environment. It simply means that we continue with the current international WTO arrangements. In that respect, we must continue to focus strongly on ensuring that we produce high quality and innovative food products for our valuable export markets in the EU and in other parts of the world. Competitiveness, quality and innovation will continue to be the key elements in our agri-food export success, irrespective of any changes in the regulatory trading environment.