Positive Steps Continue in World Trade Talks

The Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile, said today that the Doha Round of world trade talks had been given a much needed boost through a series of Ministerial meetings in Paris.

Meeting in conjunction with the annual OECD Ministerial Conference, a key group of WTO Ministers resolved a significant “gateway” issue that had been blocking the next stage in the critical market access negotiations on agriculture.

“We have had some difficult and demanding discussions but we are making progress and we remain focused on the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting at the end of this year,” Mr Vaile said.

“For the first time in the multilateral trading system, specific tariffs (for example 10 cents per kilogram) will be converted to comparable percentage (ad valorem) tariffs to enable the uniform application of a tariff cutting formula.

“Whilst this is a highly technical issue it provides a strong base for us to work on reducing tariffs and facilitating increased trade flows for Australian agricultural exports.”

The Ministers also discussed the need to move forward on other key areas such as services liberalisation and market access for non-agricultural goods.

“What we do in this Round will shape the multilateral trade environment for the next twenty five years and improved market access, reductions in trade distorting domestic support and the elimination of export subsidies are essential outcomes for Australia,” Mr Vaile said.

Contact: Mr Vaile's office 02 6277 7420