6 June 2008
Minister Crean Hosts Informal Meeting of Trade Ministers on the WTO Doha Round
Trade Minister Simon Crean today (5 June) hosted an Informal Meeting of Trade Ministers on the WTO Doha Round, in the margins of the OECD Ministerial Meeting.
Over the past week we have had strong political engagement on the Doha Round at a number of forums
- Last weekend, APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade met in Arequipa, Peru, and agreed on a strong political statement of support for bringing the Doha Round to a successful conclusion this year;
- Over the past two days, Ministers have been meeting in Paris at the OECD Ministerial Meeting where a number of sessions have focused on the importance of concluding the Doha Round this year; and
- “Today, I Chaired an Informal Meeting of Trade Ministers to focus specifically on what we need to do to get the Round done and to confirm the political commitment to do it,” Mr Crean said.
“There was excellent discussion at today’s informal meeting”, Mr Crean said.
“Most importantly, there was agreement by Ministers to direct their officials to engage intensively in Geneva from this Monday with the objective of working towards a Ministerial Meeting in Geneva around the end of the month.”
“Ministers will remain engaged in the official process over the next few weeks to provide the political support and authority to resolve outstanding issues in the lead up to the Ministerial Meeting,” Mr Crean said.
“There was a good exchange on the work ahead of us on agriculture and in particular industrial tariffs and the need to arrive at a balanced outcome in these two sectors”.
“For Australia, in addition to agriculture and industrial products, we are also looking for good results on the services negotiations. Ministers will participate in a Signalling Conference on services liberalisation commitments at the time of the Geneva meeting,” said Mr Crean.
“While it will be difficult, I believe that the display of political will and commitment over the past week indicates that a successful outcome of the Doha Round is doable this year,” said Mr Crean.
Media Inquiries: Mr Crean's office 02 6277 7420 - Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555