23 January 2005 Media Statement
Meetings on world trade talks resume
This year will be a busy one for international trade negotiations, Trade Negotiations Minister Jim Sutton said today.
Mr Sutton leaves for Davos, Switzerland, tomorrow where he will take part in informal ministerial talks on the World
Trade Organisation’s Doha Round negotiations.
This is the first informal ministerial meeting since the formal meeting in Geneva in July last year which reached
agreement on negotiating frameworks, including a historic agreement to eliminate export subsidies on agricultural
products.
Mr Sutton said 2005 would be a busy one for trade negotiators, and an important one for the World Trade Organisation.
“We really need to build on the momentum of the success of the July meeting in Geneva and make sure we have the bones of
an agreement that can be signed off by all ministers at the Hong Kong ministerial meeting in December.
“That means that we are likely to have a large number of informal mini-ministerial meetings as groups of ministers
attempt to find solutions that all can agree to at Hong Kong.”
Mr Sutton said New Zealand’s goals were quite clear.
“We want the rules for non-agricultural goods, agricultural goods, and services to be fair. We want to have greater
market access, reduced domestic support, and the elimination of export subsidies. The world trading system will work
better for all if this is achieved, especially developing countries which are heavily reliant on agricultural trade
which is the most distorted.”
ENDS