News Release
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Franz Fischler
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No. 119/04
July 27, 2004
WTO: EU COMMITTED TO PROGRESS IN WTO NEGOTIATIONS
EU
Foreign Ministers meeting today in Brussels have sent a strong message of
the EU’s commitment to conclude a framework commitment in the on-going WTO
negotiations under the
Doha Development Agenda (DDA) by the end of July.
Speaking from Brussels EU Trade
Commissioner Pascal
Lamy and EU Agriculture
Commissioner Franz
Fischler said: “The message coming out of Brussels today is loud and clear:
the EU is working full steam ahead to make the WTO talks in Geneva a success.
Be it agriculture, industrial tariffs, services or development issues, we want
results which are both balanced and ambitious. In the days to come we will negotiate
constructively. But it is not only up to the EU to make the running. Now it is
also up to others to finally show the colour of their money.”
The text of the Conclusions of the General Affairs and External Relations
Council in detail:
1. The Council held an extensive discussion on the state of play of the WTO
Doha negotiations on the basis of a presentation by Commissioner Lamy. The Council
confirmed the Union’s commitment for an agreement on a balanced framework agreement
on future DDA negotiations. The Council endorsed the approach proposed by the
Commission for the negotiations in Geneva this week and underlined the need, in
particular, to improve the balance of the texts presented by the Chairman of the
WTO General Council on several important aspects and that the outcome of the July
negotiations should maintain the momentum of the DDA without prejudging the Community
position on the final outcome of the negotiations.
2. The Community approach to the DDA negotiations remains that set out in
successive Council Conclusions as from October
1999, 28
June 2003 and most recently those of 8
December 2003 endorsing the Communication “Reviving
the DDA – the EU perspective,” and the Presidency’s conclusions of 12
July 2004.
The Council invites the Commission to pursue negotiations in the coming days
in accordance with these conclusions in close consultation with the Article 133
Committee, noting that meetings of the 133 Committee will be held regularly in
Geneva for this purpose. The Council further invites the Commission to report
back to the Council later this week as decided by the Council.
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Press Contacts:
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Anthony Gooch
202-862-9523
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Maeve O'Beirne
202-862-9549
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