Wednesday 16 September 2009

WTO Ministerial Meeting to be Held on September 3-4 in India

Minister of Trade, Mari Pangestu, would lead Indonesian delegates in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Meeting in New Delhi in September 3-4. The title of the meeting was Re-energizing Doha: A Commitment to Development. The meeting would be attended by ministers of WTO member countries; WTO’s Director General Pascal Lamy; Head of WTO’s Agriculture Negotiations; Head of WTO’s Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA); Ambassador Lucius Wasescha; and Head of WTO’s Association of Services Negotiation; and Ambassador Fernando de Mateo.

The goal of the meeting is to follow-up some previous meetings in setting negotiation of the Doha Development Round, amongst others, G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors on November 15, 2008 and April 2, 2009; Cairns Group Ministerial Meeting in Bali in May 15-17, 2009; and Informal Trade Ministers Meeting in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Ministerial Council Meeting in June 2009.

In a press conference in Jakarta on Monday [August 13], Minister of Trade Mari expected that the meeting would mark a stronger momentum for all member countries to return to negotiation table and settle the Doha Round not later than 2010. “Indonesia will continuously encourage so that the Doha Development Agenda [DDA] would soon be settled for the sake of developing countries, including Indonesia. Therefore, negotiations on all issues that have been delayed, will be immediately be started”, Mari said.

Before the ministerial meeting is opened officially by India’s Minister of Trade, Anand Sharma, Minister of Trade Mari Pangestu will lead the Group 33 (G-33) Meeting to exchange opinions and update latest issues near the ministerial meeting, considering that the G-33 has not been doing coordination quite a long time.

At the same time, a Cairns Group Informal Ministerial Meeting will be held. The goal of the meeting is to settle negotiation items which results will be conveyed by Australian Minister of Trade as Chairman of Cairns Group at the time of the ministerial meeting.

The Cairns Group meeting will discuss strategies to support negotiation in the Doha Round of the next stage in Geneva.

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