Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department has taken to recommence multilateral talks on the proposed Trade in Services Agreement.

Making multilateral progress on services trade liberalisation is a priority for the UK as an independent trading nation. As an active member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the UK is advancing market access negotiations through the Joint Initiatives on Services Domestic Regulation and E-Commerce, which draw on and have a much broader membership than the Trade in Services Agreement. Demonstrating further global services leadership, we are co-sponsoring exploratory market access discussions on environmental services and financial services at the WTO. We will continue to advocate strongly for services trade liberalisation in our multilateral and plurilateral engagement, including through the UK Presidency of the G7 trade track and through the G20.