Statement to the Trade Negotiations Committee of the World Trade Organisation, Geneva, Switzerland

Mr Chairman, Members of the WTO

Our failure to complete modalities for agriculture and NAMA by the scheduled deadline of 30 April is a failure which requires reflection, engagement and action at the political level.

The stakes are too high for any other response.

An important deadline has been missed. We now have very little time before the window of opportunity to conclude this round begins to close.

It is true that we have made some progress over recent months. But we shouldn't fool ourselves that this is anywhere near enough. We continue to evade the hard political decisions that will be required to bring this round to a close.

We must now face squarely the prospect that this round will stall completely. If that happens, I believe the round may be lost.

We need to reflect deeply on what this would mean. For Australia, this would be something of immense significance and regret.

Opportunities of the sort provided by multilateral rounds are hard fought, because they help fuel economic growth and prosperity and because they are a necessary part of the rules-based trading system.

The failure of this round would be a real setback to the multilateral system.

I assume that this is a view that most in this room would share.

What is so disappointing at this time is that I believe the essential elements for concluding the round are now well understood. Indeed, I believe that they are close at hand. But we still seem to lack the necessary political will at this time to forge the necessary compromises to realize this historic opportunity.

Time is critically short but we still have a chance to avoid failure.

Over the next few weeks we need to do two things in particular.

First, we need to intensify further our negotiating efforts. I would like to express my full support for the Director General's efforts to intensify work and for the proposals from the Chairs of the agriculture and NAMA negotiating groups on how to do this.

In agriculture we must intensify negotiations by moving them to a more structured and continuous basis. This process will allow us to more easily identify and address blockages in the negotiations. As part of this process we must all start to deal with real interests and positions, not tactical posturing or ideological rhetoric.

We should aim to move as quickly as possible to a full text-based negotiation.

I can assure you that Australia, working with its Cairns Group colleagues, indeed with all Members, will contribute to this process with total commitment.

Second, we must reaffirm and strengthen our political commitment to conclude this round. Leaders and Ministers need to be actively and continuously involved in support of these negotiations if they are to be brought to a successful conclusion.

To conclude this round we will need to make very substantial further progress in the agriculture negotiations to secure the necessary ambition. Breaking the current gridlock in the negotiations means first and foremost movement in agriculture to deepen domestic subsidy cuts and deliver substantial market access improvements.

It also means moving ahead in NAMA and as soon as we can on services trade liberalization and the rules agenda.

Bringing these areas of the negotiations forward and together in a way which meets the interests of all will be a considerable challenge. It will require very substantial political will.

But let me be very clear. There is no political constituency for a Doha round which is based on low ambition. We have an opportunity now to lock in real and effective reform of EU and US farm policy. It would be a major historical mistake if we missed this opportunity.

Equally, we have the opportunity to secure meaningful market access improvements for agriculture, manufactures and services. This is vital to securing the development objectives of the Doha mandate.

Mr Chairman, we stand on the threshold of an historic opportunity. We have for the first time the chance to deliver on the growth and development promise we made when we established the WTO. Central to this, we have at hand the chance to make a major step forward to reform fundamentally world agricultural trade. And we have the prospect of concluding the first multilateral round under the universal WTO system.

Let it not be said of the WTO that its membership is now too numerous, or that its member governments' commitment to liberalization and development is too weak, to conclude an ambitious multilateral round of negotiations.

In conclusion, at this critical time in the round we should not allow ourselves to be distracted by criticism or recrimination. All of us, Ministers and officials alike will be judged by our actions in this final period of the round.

But let us be very clear on one central point as we take up our respective tasks: how we respond over the next few weeks will have profound implications for the round and for the trading system for years to come and for our governments collectively to sustain economic growth, development and the creation of decent jobs and living conditions for all.

The time is now almost up for us to deliver on the Doha Development Agenda. Let it not be recorded in history that we failed this important responsibility to the developing world.

Thank you.