Brussels, 10/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - Foreign Ministers of EU Member States are expected to adopt, in October, conclusions on the framework agreement reached end July at the WTO on liberalisation of world trade. Committee 133 (the Council body on trade matters) will work on Friday next and 1 October on drafting a text to be forwarded to the Committee of Permanent Representatives of EU Member States (Coreper).
During its meeting Friday, Committee 133 stressed the need to finalise the round of talks during the next WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December 2005. The representative of the European Commission within Committee 133, for his part, recalled the following elements: - the United States has pledged to abolish its export subsidies (especially export credits); - the framework agreement on agriculture should make Americans launch reform of their "Farm Bill", mainly by reducing aid in the amber and blue boxes; - and the problem of geographical indications remains a priority to be included in the agreement expected at Hong Kong.
France said during Committee 133 that the framework agreement reached in July was a major stage before conclusion of the Doha Agenda. It nonetheless stressed that several key issues must now be tackled, mainly: - geographic indications, services, the environment and improving the working of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body. France also recalled that the question of market access modalities had been postponed.