Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative). It was answered on Wednesday, 25 January 2006 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Protectionist Trade Policies

Question: In view of the widespread disappointment at the failure of the WTO talks in Hong Kong and the widely shared perception that the European Union is, at the least, a substantial roadblock to progress, what specific proposals is the Minister pressing the EU negotiators to put forward in Geneva? Does he agree that there is not much point in Commissioner Mandelson making dyspeptic speeches about the failure of others to perform at the WTO, when so much of the problem is clearly caused by EU intransigence?

Answer: I would not characterise the Hong Kong talks as a failure. As I indicated, some progress was made—on export subsidies, for example, which we warmly welcome, and on special products and the special safeguard mechanism, which is important for developing countries. In the run-up to the Hong Kong talks the European Union made a particularly helpful contribution on the commitment to provide some €2 billion for trade-related capacity building. Clearly, on agriculture and a range of negotiating briefs, the EU and all member blocs in the WTO will have to give further ground. We will continue to encourage both Commissioner Mandelson and individual member states to be seized of the urgency of that.

Secondary information