EU And China Call For Doha Deal

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

13 May 2009

The European Union and China on May 8 called for an early and successful conclusion to the Doha Round of world trade talks, and pledged their commitment to closer cooperation to keep trade and investment flowing in the economic downturn.

The declaration was made by EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan following the second meeting of the EU-China High Level Trade and Economic Dialogue (HED), between the European Commission and the Chinese government.

They reiterated the adherence of both the EU and China to the conclusions of the G20 summit in London, particularly highlighting the message that economic openness is vital to recover from the financial and economic crisis.

Ashton said: "Trade and investment will lead us out of the current crisis. The EU and China therefore stand together today in calling for the swift conclusion of the Doha Round, which will help us trade our way out of recession. The message that we are sending to our businesses and our citizens is that we are working together in these difficult times."

The Doha Round of talks began back in 2001. It aims to cut trade-distorting agriculture subsidies, curb fishery subsidies, open trade in services, facilitate customs operations, open trade in clean technology, adjust anti-dumping rules, and offer duty-free and quota-free access to the exports of the world’s poorest countries among other goals. The talks collapsed last July, with ministers attending trade talks in Geneva failing in their efforts to agree on blueprint agreements in agriculture and industrial products.

Ashton highlighted the fact that there had been good discussions between the EU and China on trade and technology including intellectual property rights, customs cooperation and trade in food.

During the two plenary sessions, the following topics were covered: trade, investment and competition; small and medium-sized companies; customs cooperation; sustainable development including low carbon economy; energy; food safety and trade in food, consumer protection and product safety; healthcare; innovation and intellectual property rights; geographical indications; technology and information society; and transport.

The High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue is a Chinese initiative, and was agreed on at the November 2007 Summit by Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, in order to address the imbalance in trade flows between the EU and China.

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