Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, Ireland will host an informal European trade ministers' meeting, which will also discuss the WTO ministerial meeting that takes place at the end of the year.
The Irish minister responsible for enterprise, Richard Bruton, will chair an informal European trade ministers' meeting in Dublin on 17 and 18 of April. This meeting will focus on the forthcoming EU-US free-trade negotiations for which the two sides gave the go-ahead last February (see EUROPE 10785). The European Council will still need to amend the Commission's negotiating brief, sent to the member states in the middle of last March (see EUROPE 10805). Talks between the EU and US will be discussed during the third work session on Wednesday morning, then over dinner, which will conclude the Council meeting. Following on from the ministerial discussions, on Thursday afternoon, the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation (IBEC) will host a round table on transatlantic business questions. At these two events, the Irish Presidency of the EU Council is hoping to push forward preliminary discussions at European level for both member states and stakeholders. Ireland is also seeking to obtain formal Council approval for the Commission's negotiating brief during its tenure of the presidency, in an effort to formally open negotiations with Washington next June.
Ministers will also look at the progress made in free-trade negotiations with Canada, which are nearing conclusion (see EUROPE 10789 and 10822). Ministers will explore this chapter during the third work session on Thursday morning.
Finally, ministers will discuss the question of WTO leadership and the future of the multilateral trade system. During a first work session on Wednesday evening, attended by the organisation's Director General Pascal Lamy, they will also discuss the next ministerial conference in Bali, which is expected to produce a partial agreement on some of the agricultural chapter and a raft of measures for less developed countries, as part of the Doha Round on trade facilitation (see EUROPE 10794). (EH/transl.fl)