Failure to reach WTO agreement in Geneva

“I am disappointed that it was not possible to reach agreement. We were well on the way to achieving a new trade deal. But in critical areas, the distance between key countries was simply too great. What is important now is to preserve what has been achieved, and prepare the ground for resuming negotiations,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre commented. 

“The world economy, the developing countries and Norway would all benefit from a new agreement in the WTO. Norway has played an active part in the negotiations, and we have persevered around the clock for nine days here in Geneva in order to reach agreement. It is therefore disappointing to acknowledge that our efforts did not bring us all the way to the finishing line,” the Foreign Minister said. 

“In particular, it was the question of under what conditions developing countries would be able to use a new special safeguard mechanism in the event of agricultural import surges that proved impossible to solve during the final stages of negotiations. The exporting countries wanted to impose limitations on the use of such a mechanism, and the parties failed to reach a compromise,” Mr Støre said, while making clear that other issues also remain to be resolved.

“Although full agreement was not reached in Geneva, it is important to preserve what has been achieved during seven years of negotiations, not least for developing countries. For Norway, with its open, export-oriented economy, a well-functioning and widely trusted international trade system is vital. For this reason, Norway will do everything possible to prevent the negotiations on a new WTO agreement from being abandoned,” the Foreign Minister stressed.

“The text that we saw the outlines of would have safeguarded Norwegian interests adequately. We have worked to achieve an agreement on agriculture that would safeguard a viable agricultural sector in all parts of the country, and we have made good progress in defending these interests in the negotiations,” Mr Støre commented.

Minister of Agriculture and Food, Lars Peder Brekk, emphasised that Norway’s main priority was to advocate sound and long-term framework conditions that would ensure an active agricultural sector throughout Norway.

“The text that we saw taking shape, before the negotiations collapsed, would have given Norway sufficient elbow room to pursue a sound and active national agricultural policy,” Mr Brekk said.

“A new WTO agreement would have posed challenges for agriculture and the food industry. Having said that, had agreement been reached, they would have had the advantage of knowing the future framework conditions. Agriculture is a sector that requires a long-term perspective, along with sound and predictable framework conditions,” Mr Brekk added.