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The Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr John Tsang, today (November 30) said there were three important tasks ahead of us before the run-up to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Sixth Ministerial Meeting (MC6) to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18.
Speaking at the meeting of the G90 Ministers in Brussels, Mr Tsang said these tasks were important in making Hong Kong the launch pad for the final phase of negotiations leading to a successful conclusion of the Doha Round by 2006.
The three tasks are:
(1) to keep up the pressure and momentum of the negotiations so that as much of an advance on the July 2004 Framework can be secured as possible;
(2) to draw up a clear roadmap for the post-Hong Kong period so that full modalities can be sorted out as quickly as possible after MC6 to enable the negotiations to proceed towards closure by the end of the year; and
(3) to come up with a meaningful Development Package at MC6, separate from the gains that will flow eventually from the market access negotiations and bring real benefits to developing members.
On the Development Package, Mr Tsang emphasised that it was not a substitute for the substantive gains, which must come from subsidy elimination and market opening in Agriculture and NAMA. Nor was it a hostage to either.
"We simply cannot afford to wait for the end of the Round before we discuss and agree on these issues. We should aim to pocket these results now," he said.
Mr Tsang outlined the following key components of the package:
* Unambiguous commitment to Duty Free Quota Free market access for products of the Least Developed Countries (LDC);
* Harvesting as many of the agreement-specific Special and Differential Treatment proposals as possible;
* A longer transition period for LDCs under the Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Trade-related investment measures (TRIMS) agreements;
* Commitment to an Aid for Trade programme, which among other things should be sufficient to enable early implementation of the Trade Facilitation measures on which agreement is already very close;
* Securing a permanent solution to the TRIPS and Public Health issue.
Mr Tsang noted that much progress had been made in the negotiations but they had hit a stumbling block on market access in agriculture.
"It does not seem likely that the principal protagonists will be able to settle their differences in time for Hong Kong. So full modalities will not be achievable there, and we have had to adjust our expectations for MC6, even as we keep our ambitions high for the Round as a whole," he said.
"As Chair of MC6, I truly believe that a successful conclusion of the Doha Round would bring benefits to developing members, and in the longer run, will be a driving force in the alleviation of poverty," he added.
Ends/Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Issued at HKT 18:24
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