Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 79: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she expects unexpected developments in the World Trade Organisation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5482/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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In the declaration issued by the G20 last November, there was a commitment to get an agreement on the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) of trade talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This commitment was to agree, before the end of 2008, on a framework for reducing tariffs on and supports for industrial goods and agricultural produce. If successful this commitment would have been an important milestone on the road to concluding all aspects of the DDA, including services and trade facilitation. As it turned out, however, it was not possible at that time to get agreement between some of the parties on a few key issues.

Since then, the Director General of the World Trade Organisation, Mr. Pascal Lamy, has been working with delegations to renew the commitment to reach agreement on holding a further Ministerial. There is another meeting of the G20 scheduled for April in London and I expect that the trade talks will feature on the agenda for that meeting. In the meantime, the WTO talks in Geneva are proceeding at a technical level.