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Trade Ministers from some 30 World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries – including Hon Phil Goff, New Zealand’s Minister of Trade - will meet in Geneva during the week of 21 July to discuss how to progress the Doha Round of WTO trade negotiations, which commenced in 2001. There have been several Ministerial meetings since then intended to try and bring the negotiating Round to a conclusion, but as yet WTO Members have been unable to agree on key issues. New Zealand plays an active role in the negotiations.
The decision to hold the Ministerial meeting responds to intensified calls from global political leaders that the Doha Development Round of WTO negotiations should be concluded by the end of this year. At the May meeting of APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade in Arequipa, Peru, this call was reinforced, with APEC Ministers agreeing on a strong political statement of support (external link to APEC) for bringing the Doha Round to a successful conclusion this year. A similar message came out of the OECD Ministerial meeting in Paris in early June.
WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has told WTO members that the pressure is on them to maximise efforts in order to ensure the meeting this month is productive. This effort will focus on agriculture and non-agricultural market access (NAMA) issues, which remain at the core of the Doha Round’s agenda. Draft proposed modalities for the negotiations on agriculture and NAMA were released mid-May 2008. These modalities are critical to the Doha Development Round; they are the agreed rules which provide the basis on which Members will draw up their schedules of concessions, or the new market access that will be offered as a result of the negotiations. Updated versions of these proposals are expected to be released around 10 July.
Daily updates of progress in the WTO will be posted on this page. If you would like further information on the progress in the WTO please contact the Trade Policy Liaison Unit, tplu@mfat.govt.nz or 04 439-8625.
