Strasbourg, 10/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will travel to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 13 and 21 March to discuss the bilateral and multilateral agenda. De Gucht will also represent the EU at the national memorial service in Christchurch following the recent earthquake. During the first leg of his trip in Kuala Lumpur, the commissioner will meet Prime Minister Najib Razak and Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed to review progress made on the comprehensive EU-Malaysia free-trade agreement since negotiations started in October 2010. During the second phase of his visit to Canberra, the commissioner for trade will carry out an examination with Australian Minister for Trade Craig Emerson. During the third phase in Wellington, this examination will be carried out with the New Zealand minister, Tim Groser. They will look at ways of stepping up economic and trade relations between the EU and Australia and between the EU and New Zealand. Discussions will also focus on multilateral negotiations in the Doha Round. Australia and New Zealand, leading agricultural exporter WTO countries in the Cairns group, have major roles to play in these negotiations. Both they and the EU are committed to reaching a global agreement before the end of this year. De Gucht will also hold discussions with his Australian and New Zealand colleagues on questions involving trade rules and the supply of raw materials.
During the final part of his visit to Port-Moresby, the commissioner for trade will also appeal to the Papua New Guinea authorities to implement the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the Pacific region. This agreement includes duty free and quota free access to the European market for goods from countries in this region. An agreement has already been concluded with Papua New Guinea and the European Commission is now calling for the gradual dismantling of the country's tariffs and the setting up of a system for controlling export subsidies and the Fiji Islands. (E.H./transl.fl)