Foreign Affairs Council (Trade)

Anna Soubry Excerpts

Thursday 10th December 2015 Written Statements

[The Minister for Small Business, Industry and Enterprise (Anna Soubry)]

My noble Friend the Minister of State for Trade and Investment (Lord Maude of Horsham) has today made the following statement.

The EU Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) will meet in Nairobi during the 10th ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The Council will meet on the 15 December before the formal opening of the ministerial conference. I will represent the UK.

We expect the Council to meet again during the ministerial conference, at least once, possibly more, but the date of subsequent meetings of Council has not yet been set.

The only substantive item on the agenda for the Council in Nairobi is the 10th ministerial conference of the WTO.

The Nairobi ministerial will be the first WTO ministerial conference in Africa. WTO members meeting in Nairobi will reflect on the achievements of the WTO in the twenty years since its founding in 1995, will discuss potential outcomes on export competition in agriculture, on development and on transparency, and consider how the WTO organises its negotiations going forward. WTO members will also welcome the accessions of Afghanistan and Liberia.

The UK wants to see substantive outcomes on export competition, development and transparency to promote flexibility in the way the WTO organises its negotiations following Nairobi and will welcome the accessions of Afghanistan and Liberia.

[HCWS376]