Brussels, 12/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel will be in Washington DC on 13 September for meetings with their US counterparts on the Doha Round. On Tuesday evening, they will meet US Trade Representative Rob Portman and US Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns on the agriculture component of the talks. On 14 September, Commissioner Mandelson and Ambassador Portman will have further discussions on the Doha Round and other EU-US bilateral trade issues (industrial products, services, facilitating trade). Commissioner Fischer Boel will remain in Washington until Friday for meetings with Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick and senior Members of Congress and a further bilateral with Ambassador Portman. Speaking before his departure Commissioner Mandelson said: “With just weeks to go until the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial there is an urgent need for progress. The EU and US must continue to show leadership and a willingness to make tough decisions on agricultural reform to help the rest of the Round move forward. Real progress in Hong Kong requires ambition and commitment now.” Commissioner Fischer Boel said: “Time is short if we are to achieve an ambitious result in Hong Kong. Our CAP reforms have allowed us to make deep cuts in trade-distorting farm support and put our export refunds on the table. We have also shown flexibility on market access. I look to my American colleagues to show a similar willingness to reform as they look ahead to the next Farm Bill. EU-US cooperation is a vital component if the Doha Round is to be a success.”
Meanwhile, negotiators from WTO member countries will be entering a new series of farm negotiations in Geneva this week (13-16 September), chaired by the new President of the Agriculture Committee, New Zealander Crawford Falconer. A formal meeting of the Committee on Tuesday morning will be followed on Thursday and Friday by informal talks focussing on domestic support, export competition and access to markets. On all issues, Falconer is urging the delegations to come up with new, ambitious and tangible proposals to avoid losing time in the three months leading up to the big summit in Hong Kong in December. The EU made it possible to resume farm negotiations in 2004 by offering to end its export subsidies, but has little room for manoeuvre on the issue of access to market (import rights). The United States has not yet made clear what concessions it is prepared to make on farm issues. Failing progress on agriculture, there is little hope that developing countries will agree to open their markets to industrial products. A G4 meeting (EU, United States, Brazil and India) is scheduled in Paris on 22 September.