Media release

18 July 2004 -  MVT61/2004

Opportunity to Advance the WTO Doha Round

Trade Minister Mark Vaile today welcomed the release in Geneva of a draft negotiating text setting out a package to advance the WTO Doha Round. The text includes a framework for reforming global trade in agriculture, as well as a proposed way forward on liberalisation of world trade in industrial products and services.

"The draft text prepared by WTO Director General Dr Supachai and WTO General Council Chair Ambassador Oshima is a constructive effort to forge a way ahead in the Doha Round and to bring together the range of interests of the 147 WTO members.

"The task ahead of us now is to negotiate intensively over the next two weeks to achieve agreement by all WTO Members to final framework texts which will guide the last phase of the negotiations. This is unlikely to be an easy task given the divergent views and levels of ambition among the WTO Members", Mr Vaile said.

"An ambitious framework for the agriculture negotiations is of vital interest to Australia, and remains the key to progressing other areas of the negotiations.

"We will be analysing carefully the extent to which the text meets the ambition of the mandate set by WTO Ministers in Doha on the three pillars of the negotiations - market access, export subsidies and domestic support.

"Australia welcomes the clear commitment in the draft framework to negotiate an end date for all agricultural export subsidies. This has long been an important objective for Australia and the Cairns Group and will be an important signal that all WTO Members are ready to follow through on the commitment they made at Doha to put an end to this most pernicious form of agricultural subsidy.

"Australia will be working hard to ensure that the next stage of the negotiations can begin to deliver on the commitment to create substantial new market access opportunities and significantly reduce trade-distorting domestic subsidies in line with the Doha mandate."

"Australia will continue pressing all sides to move forward expeditiously with the Doha Round. We remain fully committed to seeking an ambitious outcome to the Round to create new export markets for Australia's world class agricultural products, manufactures and services exports," Mr Vaile said.

Media contact:  Matthew Doman (Canberra) +612 6277 7420. Nicole Guihot (departmental)   02 6261 1555