. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  WT/MIN(05)/ST/18 
14 December 2005 
 (05-5991) 
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
Sixth Session 
Hong Kong, 13 - 18 December 2005 Original:   English 
 
 
 
AUSTRALIA 
 
Statement by the Honourable Mark Vaile MP  
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade  
 
 
 At the outset I would like to thank John Tsang for welcoming us here to Hong Kong. 
  I am not sure it would be possible to find  a more appropriate venue for a meeting on 
international trade.  Hong Kong is the embodiment  of the development benefits of open trade. 
 
 We are at a critical point in the Doha negotia tions.  This Ministerial Conference must make 
sufficient progress for us to comp lete the Round in 2006 in a manner  that delivers the ambition agreed 
in Doha.   Our people expect no less given the vital ro le of the international trading system in 
stimulating economic growth, particularly for developing countries. 
 
 It is now four years since we launched the Doha Round.  In Doha we set ourselves an 
ambitious mandate that reflected a careful balan ce of Members' interests on the key issues of 
agriculture, NAMA and services. 
 
 We have not come as far in these negotiations as we all would have liked.  This underlines the urgent challenge we face at this meeting to lay a so lid foundation for concluding these negotiations in 
the first half of 2006.   Australia is more committed than ever to achieving this goal. 
 
 I welcome the work done in Geneva to produce a draft Ministerial text.  It is a useful starting 
point.  But we have much work to do if we ar e to provide the necessary direction and ambition. 
 
 Strong political commitment will be required fr om all Members.  Differences need to be 
bridged which may involve difficult choices, but we all have to face up to these challenges so the 
historical opportunity presented by the Doha negotiations can be seized. 
  The benchmark must be about creating new commercial opportunities to expand trade.  
 Agriculture is critically important to Australia  and the Cairns Group.  And no single act that 
we take in this Round will contribute more to our development objectives than ending discrimination 
against agriculture.  It is also the key to unblocking the negotiations. 
  Breaking the impasse on agricultural market a ccess is now the next decisive step in the 
negotiations.   WT/MIN(05)/ST/18 
Page 2  
 
  Accordingly, we call on all Members to live up to the plain meaning of the Doha Mandate for 
substantial improvements in market access including for so-called "sensitive" products.  There must 
also be substantial cuts to existing levels of domestic support beyond what has already been tabled 
and elimination of export subsidies no later than by 2010.  This latter objective has recently been 
supported by all the Members of both APEC and the Commonwealth. 
 
 Importantly, we also need to ensure that  any outcome narrows the disparity between 
agriculture and other sectors.  Any other outcome would be perverse given the very high levels of 
agricultural trade distortion.  In short we must move towards ending discrimination against 
agriculture, not adding to it.   On services, Australia has made a very st rong offer because we support an ambitious 
outcome.  We must now agree to intensify our wo rk with a view to expanding the coverage of 
commitments and their quality. 
 
 Australia also is committed to an ambitious out come on non-agricultural market access.  It is 
high time that we agreed on a simple Swiss formula for cutting industrial tariffs. 
 
 Development is critical to these negotiations.  Market access opening will deliver the most 
significant development benefits but we also must address other issues. 
  I welcome the agreement last week on the amendment to the TRIPS Agreement to give 
permanent effect to the decision on public health.  Australia is also committed to advancing work on 
LDCs including duty-free/quota- free market access.  Australia has be en at the forefront of efforts in 
this area through our decision in 2003 to provide duty-free/quota-free access to all
 LDCs for all  
products on a secure and predictable basis. 
 
 It has also been good to see the significant progress made on accessions this year.  The entry 
of Saudi Arabia and imminent arrival of our  Pacific neighbour Tonga as the WTO's 150th Member 
shows that interest in the WTO remains strong because of the benefits that membership brings. 
 
 There can be no mistaking that we are now at  a key point in these negotiations.  We must 
seize the opportunity this meeting offers to create  the beach head from which we can conclude the 
Round in 2006. 
 
 Now is the time for all Members to confront the difficult political decisions necessary to 
unlock these negotiations and nowhere is this going to be more important than on agricultural market 
access. 
 
 When taking our work forward we need to keep in mind the key underlying tenet of the 
multilateral trading system.  This is to reduce barr iers to trade and open markets within a stable 
framework of international trade rules that protects the weak from the strong.  And this is how we can 
best advance the Round's development objectives. 
 
 The work that has been done over the past four years has clearly defined the issues that we 
must address here in Hong Kong.  We have neve r been as well prepared before as we are now. 
 
 We have at hand an historic opportunity to set the world economy on the path of sustainable reform and liberalization.  Austra lia has come to Hong Kong to wo rk constructively and patiently 
with our partners to close the gaps and set up the Round for a successful conclusion next year. 
 
 
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