Raad stelt Europese positie en verwachting voor ministeriële vergadering Wereldhandelsorganisatie vast (en)
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
(OR. en)
PROVISIONAL VERSION
PRESSE 523 PR CO 62
PRESS RELEASE
3277th Council meeting
Foreign Affairs
BALI, Indonesia, 3 December 2013
President Linas Linkevičius
Minister for Foreign Affairs of Lithuania
PROVISIONAL VERSION 3 December 2013
Main results of the Council
The Council, meeting in the margins of the 9th WTO ministerial conference in Bali, Indonesia, adopted conclusions setting out the EU's position and expectations for the conference.
In its conclusions, the Council called for a political understanding to be reached at the conference on the text of an ambitious and legally binding trade facilitation agreement. It also laid down its position on issues related to agriculture, especially food security, and development.
PROVISIONAL VERSION 3 December 2013
CONTTS1
PARTICIPANTS................................................................................................................................4
ITEMS DEBATED
9th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference.......................................................................6
OTHER ITEMS APPROVED
none
1 • Where declarations, conclusions or resolutions have been formally adopted by the Council, this is indicated in the heading for the item concerned and the text is placed between quotation marks
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•Documents for which references are given in the text are available on the Council's Internet site (http://www.consilium.europa.eu)
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•Acts adopted with statements for the Council minutes which may be released to the public are indicated by an asterisk; these statements are available on the Council's Internet site or may be obtained from the Press Office
PROVISIONAL VERSION
3 December 2013
PARTICIPANTS
Belgium:
Mr Bertrand DE CROMBRUGGHE
Bulgaria:
Mr Dragomir STOYNEV
Czech Republic:
Mr Milan HOVORKA
Denmark:
Mr Nick HÆKKERUP
Germany:
Ms Anne Ruth HERKES
Estonia:
Mr Väino REINART
Ireland:
Mr Richard BRUTON
Greece:
Mr Panagiotis MITARACHI
Spain:
France:
Ms Nicole BRICQ
Croatia:
Mr Tihomir JAKOVINA
Italy:
Mr Carlo CALDA
Cyprus:
Ms Egli PANTELAKI
Latvia:
Ms Inga ERNSTSONE
Lithuania:
Mr Linas LINKEVIČIUS
Luxembourg:
Ms Sasha BAILLIE
Hungary:
Mr János MARTONYI
Malta:
Mr Christian CARDONA
Netherlands:
Ms Lilianne PLOUM
Austria:
Mr Robert PROCHAZKA
Poland:
Mr Andrzej DYCHA
Ambassador
Minister for the Economy and Energy
Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade
Minister for Trade and European Affairs
State Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Technology
Undersecretary, Economic and Development Affairs
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
State Secretary for Development and Competitiveness
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Environment
Minister for Foreign Trade
Minister for Agriculture
Deputy Minister of Economic Development
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment
Ambassador
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Ambassador
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business
Minister For Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation
Minister
Deputy State Secretary, Ministry of the Economy
PROVISIONAL VERSION
3 December 2013
Portugal:
Mr Bruno MAÇÃES
Romania:
Mr Virgil Daniel POPESCU
Slovenia:
Ms Andreja KERT
Slovakia:
Mr Tomáš MALATINSKÝ
Finland:
Sweden:
Ms Ewa BJÖRLING
United Kingdom:
Mr Stephen GRE
Commission:
Mr Karel DE GUCHT i Mr Dacian CIOLOŞ i
State Secretary for European Affairs
State Secretary
State Secretary, Ministry of Economic Development and Technology
Minister for the Economy
Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade
Minister for Trade and Nordic Cooperation
Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Commissioner Commissioner
PROVISIONAL VERSION 3 December 2013
ITEMS DEBATED
9th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference
Council adopted the following conclusions:
" 1. The Council reiterates the EU’ s commitment to the multilateral trading system and the
crucial importance of reaching an ambitious and balanced outcome at the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference. Such a successful outcome would create positive momentum for the resumption of negotiations on other Doha Development Agenda (DDA) issues in 2014
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2.The Conference should reach a political understanding on the text of an ambitious and legally binding Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which will bring substantial benefits to all WTO members and will be a driver for world trade and growth. The TFA should be adopted as soon as possible after the Conference in 2014
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3.The TFA will be of particular benefit to developing countries, by better integrating them into international trade and global value chains. The EU remains committed to assist the developing countries most in need, especially LDCs, in the implementation of the TFA. It acknowledges the need for time-limited flexibilities for certain developing countries. The more advanced developing countries should declare that they will not make use of these flexibilities, or make very limited use of them mainly by means of short transitional periods before full implementation is achieved
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4.A satisfactory outcome on the TFA will allow the EU to give its agreement on the overall package, including other DDA issues, as set out below
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5.Agriculture is a key element of the DDA which can only be addressed within a final outcome encompassing other areas of the DDA mandate. A limited number of issues however could be part of the outcome of the Conference. Food security should be addressed through a time-limited due restraint clause, with specific conditions and safeguards agreed by WTO members to ensure transparency and avoid trade distortions. The EU could also accept the improvement of the administration of Tariff Rate Quotas, underlining that it would be more beneficial if applied by all WTO members
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6.In the area of export competition, the EU has already made tremendous efforts in recent years to reduce its use of export subsidies, which have not been matched by other WTO members across all aspects of export competition. The EU is willing to support a political declaration of the Conference which takes note of the progress achieved, underlines the importance of transparency and reaffirms the need to address all export competition issues in a balanced way in the context of future DDA negotiations
PROVISIONAL VERSION 3 December 2013
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7.In addition to the important development dimension of the Trade Facilitation Agreement, the Monitoring Mechanism on special and differential treatment would contribute to the integration of developing countries into the multilateral trading system. As regards the LDCs, together with the decisions already agreed on LDC’s accession guidelines and the TRIPS transition period extension, the draft WTO ministerial decisions on the operationalisation of the services waiver, on preferential rules of origin, on duty free quota free market access and on cotton would provide for a meaningful and ambitious development package for the Conference
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8.In this context, the Council warmly welcomes the accession of Yemen to the WTO and recalls its commitment to facilitate LDCs accessions to the WTO
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9.The EU emphasises the importance of a balanced revision of the Information Technology Agreement. The EU looks forward to the rapid entry into force of the revised Government Procurement Agreement, which will in particular allow for more transparent rules and new market access opportunities
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10.The Council supports the Commission in its efforts in order to make the Conference a success. It will assess the progress made with a view to reaching a balanced outcome in line with these conclusions. To this end, the Commission will regularly report to the Council on progress in the negotiations and submit wherever needed drafts for EU negotiating positions on texts discussed within the WTO. It will present to the Council the WTO negotiated texts before their final adoption by the WTO bodies."