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Day two of the WTO Ministerial meeting in Geneva has concluded with no new ground covered or positions stated but with general consensus around what the key issues are which must be dealt with over the coming days.
Following on from the opening statements from the 31 members who spoke on Monday 21 July in the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) meeting, another 17 delegations spoke on Tuesday (Geneva time). The themes were similar, reflecting members’ various perspectives on the issues that concern them, with several again saying that a good Doha Round result is needed to deal with current economic uncertainties.
Concluding the opening TNC process, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said he intends for consultations to move into more detailed work on both agriculture and non-agricultural market access and to begin discussing possible solutions to the outstanding issues.
Similarly, the first day of “Green Room” talks – a selected grouping of approximately 40 representative Ministers, including New Zealand’s Minister of Trade Phil Goff, produced a clearer understanding of the key issues and constraints which are up for debate this week. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy reported that the discussions in the “Green Room” would turn to detailed negotiations based on current agriculture and non-agricultural market access texts and numbers when the group met again in the afternoon (early this morning, New Zealand time). Of interest to New Zealand, the formal discussions on Agriculture have seen members traverse the range of issues in the current negotiating text. The divisive issue of cuts to farm subsidies has had a first discussion, with the tone so far reasonably positive. Talks will continue tomorrow across the range of issues.
In his opening statement Mr Lamy described the smaller-group “Green Room” talks as a “consultative process”. He said its main purpose is to help members build consensus on the remaining issues in the agriculture and non-agricultural market access drafts. The process would be “fully transparent and inclusive”, he assured delegations.
Earlier in the week and of note to New Zealand interests, the Australian Minister for Trade, Simon Crean, chaired a Ministerial Meeting of the Cairns Group. The 19-member Cairns Group coalition, made up of like-minded agricultural based economies, has called for wide-ranging reform to agricultural trade in the current Doha Round of world trade talks. Cairns Group countries account for over 25 per cent of the world’s agricultural exports.
In a statement issued after the meeting, Mr Crean said: “The Group was united in its call for a good strong outcome to this week’s talks. We all want a successful conclusion to these negotiations. The Group is convinced that an agreement is within our grasp.”
The communiqué released following the meeting by the group can be read at:
