Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Trade. Would the minister advise the House of the likelihood of a successful outcome to the World Trade Organisation Doha Round? Why is this important to Australia, Minister, and to the global economy?

Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He knows the significance of improved trade opportunities for his state and his electorate. Let me deal with the second part of the question first: why is it important? It is important to improve trading opportunities because world trade grows at three times the rate of world output. The message is pretty clear from that. If countries want to secure their economic future, they not only have to engage with trade but have to do what they can to liberalise and open more markets so that that trade opportunity can happen.

It is also the fact that after each successful round in the multilateral trade forums there has been an important boost to trade opportunities. That is why getting another boost is important in the current context in closing out the Doha Round. It is also important in the current economic circumstances because in times of global economic uncertainty it is important to inject an amount of certainty. It is also significant that a conclusion to the Doha Round can be a key component in solving the high food price problem that many countries are facing.

As to the likelihood of an outcome, that has been significantly improved because of the more active engagement in the multilateral round by the Rudd government. This is something that should not be underestimated. We have recalibrated the focus of trade policy to put primacy of focus on the Doha Round and not have the predominance of the focus on the bilateral agreements—the free trade agreements. We have engaged a new level of activism, not only in Geneva but through the Cairns Group, through the regional architectures and through bilateral arrangements. It is true to say that, since the political will injected in Davos in January of this year, there are now new frameworks to conclude this round in—a framework that has laid out the basis for dealing with sensitive products and domestic support, a framework for goods and a framework for services. We still do not have the framework for dealing with special products from developing countries. This is something that we are actively engaged in at the moment.

The truth is that we are closer now than we have ever been to getting an outcome in the Doha Round. Problems do remain but, in a funny way, the problems exist because we are making this sort of progress. I only make the point because this is a huge opportunity for this country. But it is a vital opportunity for global prosperity. This government will leave no stone unturned in trying to find and secure an outcome to the Doha Round.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.