Summary: May 3, 2005: Commissioners Mandelson and Fischer Boel to take part in WTO trade talks, Paris, 3- 4 May 2005 (Brussels)
EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel and EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson travel to Paris today for WTO talks as part of the Doha Development Agenda of international trade negotiations. Tomorrow's Mini-Ministerial meeting will take place in the margins of the OECD Trade Ministers' meeting in Paris. This afternoon, Commissioners Fischer Boel and Mandelson will meet with various negotiating groups in an attempt to make new progress in talks on agriculture, services,
non-agricultural market access (NAMA) and development.
Commissioner Mandelson said: "It is time for all WTO members to move the talks forward. All parties should be ready to give according to their capacity, so that we can meet the needs of the most vulnerable."
Commissioner Fischer Boel said: "I travel to Paris determined to inject new momentum into the DDA negotiations. Up to now, agriculture has stayed ahead of the game. I am now determined to do all I can to move the talks on from last month's temporary impasse over market access. We must make progress soon if we are to have a draft agreement on paper by this summer. This is vital if we are to reach an all-embracing deal in Hong Kong in December."
The Paris Mini-Ministerial is an important step on the road to the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial in December 2005. It will bring together Ministers from about 30 WTO member states, and all negotiating groups. All parties will be aiming at giving renewed political momentum to international trade negotiations.
The Mini-Ministerial Meeting is likely to focus on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) issues, development, services and agriculture. On agriculture, the EU will be looking to move beyond an impasse on technical issues over new formulae for calculating so-called Ad-Valorem Equivalents for import tariffs. The EU will continue to push for a wide agreement on cutting export support and widening market access for agricultural trade.
On NAMA the EU will ask that all parties focus on an agreement that produces gains for all. Wider market access for both non-agricultural goods means real cuts in tariff rates - as opposed to cuts in the maximum rates countries notify to Geneva but often do not fully apply.
All WTO members are requested to have made offers for access to their services markets by the end of May. The EU, which tabled its services offer in April, has called on all parties to ensure that this deadline is met.
The EU goal remains the production of a 'first approximation', produced in time for the summer to guide the development of a text for the Hong Kong Ministerial in December.
Commissioners Fischer Boel and Mandelson will take part in advance meetings today with the 'NAMA Group', 'Five Interested Parties' (FIPS) group and the Steering Group (which brings together sectoral negotiations leaders). These meetings will give parties the chance to prepare the ground for the Ministerial on Wednesday.
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