Revised WTO texts are circulated
They will form the basis for discussions when ministers meet in Geneva in the week of July 21 to try to agree the outlines of a Doha deal, named for negotiations launched in the Qatari capital in November 2001 to free up world trade.
“These revised texts set the stage for a decisive moment in the Doha round,” WTO director general, Pascal Lamy, said.
“A deal to open trade in agriculture and goods means more growth, better prospects for development and a more stable and predictable trading system. We must not let this opportunity slip through our fingers,” he said in a statement.
Lamy, a former European Union trade chief, called the make-or-break meeting, which is the last opportunity to reach a deal before change in the US administration in January 2009 that could see the talks put on ice for years.
In Brussels, the European Commission said it welcomed positive steps made in the new negotiating texts but said that “important gaps” still needed to be bridged.
“We are committed to this negotiation, but we need serious efforts from our negotiating partners to reach a balanced agreement,” a spokesman for European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said.
Responding to the final WTO proposals published in Geneva, IFA president, Padraig Walshe, said the onus was now on the Government to declare a vital interest for Irish farming and the food industry in advance of the July 21 deadline.
He said: “President Sarkozy has said the French people will not hand their food security away and become dependent on unreliable and unpredictable South American countries to feed the French nation.”
Mr Walshe said the deal now definitely facing the Government would mean the loss of 50,000 jobs in the food industry and services, and a further 50,000 farmers being put out of business.
US trade representative spokeswoman, Gretchen Hamel, said that the Bush administration would be reviewing the texts in coming days.
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