"The conclusions of Hong Kong commit WTO members to achieving a similar level of ambition on industrial products as on agriculture. Everyone must also recognise the benefits of a more liberal world market in services. That is what we must strive for. I hope we can work this weekend in a positive spirit towards achieving this balance."
Negotiators in London will continue to engage in all key areas of the negotiations: agriculture, industrial goods, services, trade facilitation and other world trade rules.
The EU will continue to push others to match its wide-ranging offer of October 2005, which offered the steepest farm support and agricultural tariff cuts ever offered by the European Union in a multilateral trade round, with equivalent moves, especially in the crucial areas of trade industrial goods and services.
The talks will be held in central London. They will start with an evening session on Friday 10 March and continue through Saturday. A press briefing will be offered at the close of the meeting.
Progress since Hong Kong - At the December 2005 Hong Kong WTO Ministerial Meeting negotiators agreed to try to achieve broad agreement on tariff and subsidy reductions for both agriculture and industrial goods by the end of April 2006 while demonstrating progress in other key areas of the Round.
This would allow negotiators to use the remainder of 2006 to agree detail and ensure that the Doha Round could be successfully concluded at the end of 2006 or early in 2007. After a short hiatus following Hong Kong, negotiations have continued in 2006.
Following a mini-ministerial meeting in Davos, Switzerland in January, these have chiefly taken the form of a series of bilateral and plurilateral meetings between key negotiators.
Although these meetings have been constructive, there is an imbalance in talks across all sectors. For the EU, and other key partners, these balancing moves are essential if the Round is to be successfully concluded.
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-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
