News Releases

Peter Mandelson

No. 101/05
November 10, 2005

MANDELSON: HONG KONG "DIFFICULT BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE"

In a speech to a Trade and Poverty Conference in the European Parliament in Brussels EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson offered an assessment of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) following three days of talks in Geneva and London. He argued that levels of ambition for the DDA could not be lowered, even if expectations for the Hong Kong Ministerial were. Insisting that the EU would make no new offer on agriculture before Hong Kong, he called further movement on industrial tariffs and services, especially from advanced developing countries, "the bargain at the heart of the negotiation."

Hong Kong: "Difficult but not impossible"

"The plain fact is that the situation with the round is very difficult but not impossible...The realistic level of ambition for Hong Kong at this stage will be to consolidate the progress that has been made, build on the July Framework and leave most of the main decisions on the figures to somewhat later, hopefully in the first quarter of next year. I resisted this putting off, but have had to bow the inevitable."

Reduce ambitions for Hong Kong, but not for the Round as a whole

"Reducing expectations for Hong Kong, if carefully handled, will allow us to avoid an acrimonious breakdown of the sort we witnessed in Seattle and Cancun. This would weaken the multilateral trading system as well as global economic confidence...But if we scale back in Hong Kong, we should not scale back for the Round as a whole. It is too important."

"Simply demanding more in agriculture...does not add up to a serious negotiation"

Reciprocation by our partners in the areas of industrial tariffs and services is the bargain lying at the heart of this negotiation. This is where movement now has to come. Simply demanding more and more in agriculture, without proper balance in commitments from others both in agriculture and outside agriculture, does not add up to serious negotiation or deal-making. We will not make a further agricultural offer before Hong Kong, although we will engage further in discussing the content of what we have offered and the appropriate responses by other.

"We must mix realism with ambition"

"Taking longer will not transform the economic and political realties that shape our choices. We will stretch ourselves to find new flexibility and compromise as I hope others will do. We must mix realism with ambition in order to maximize the benefits of the Round."

Read the full speech on RAPID: SPEECH/05/676

http://www.eurunion.org/news_rss/

http://www.eurunion.org/newsweb/HotTopics.htm#dda

Further Contact Information
Press and Media Relations
Delegation of the European Commission
2300 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20037
http://www.eurunion.org/PressRoom
Tel: 202-862-9552
Fax: 202-429-1766