European Commission Launches New Website For WTO Talks

European Commission launches new website for this week's WTO Ministerial trade talks

Today, Trade Ministers will meet in Geneva in an attempt to agree a basic framework for a final deal in the Doha Round of WTO world trade talks. Ministers hope to agree the parameters of a deal to create new trade in agriculture, industrial goods and services. The Doha Round was launched in 2001, and seven years of work have produced the possibility of a final deal that – if all WTO members make a proportionate contribution - would go further in creating new trade than any past global trade agreement.

The European Commission‘s special Geneva Ministerial website sets out the key issues for the Ministerial and puts the negotiation into a wider global political context. You will find background material, press interviews and regular updates throughout the week of negotiations here.

The EU believes a successful and ambitious Doha Round is both in the interests of the EU and the wider global economy. It believes that a deal in which all WTO members contribute proportionate to their capacities would:

• strengthen the multilateral system and the WTO by bringing the new rising powers into a trade deal as core contributors for the first time;
• provide a shot of confidence in a highly uncertain global economy;
• create valuable new economic growth in the global economy, which can contribute to new trade for EU companies, job creation and greater competitiveness;
• remove important distortions in global farm trade that in many cases currently create unfair pressure on farming in the developing world.

The EU has shown clear leadership in the DDA, going further than ever before in a multilateral trade round in a challenge to others to do the same. Thanks in large part to the ambition of the EU, the Doha package has potential value far greater than any past multilateral trade deal.

ENDS

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