Ireland Inc. to benefit from Trade Talks Deal - Minister Ahern

Minister for Trade, Michael Ahern T.D., Ireland’s trade representative at the World Trade Organisation talks, welcomed the deal struck late on Sunday after a week of tense and fraught negotiations in Hong Kong. He described the last minute deal as a fair and balanced outcome from Ireland’s point of view.

“The international trading environment is of particular importance to Ireland’s economy and an effective W.T.O. is very much part of this” he said. “We went into these negotiations not only to improve on Ireland’s trade prospects but also to secure the delivery of a substantial trade development aid package to poorer countries and we have delivered on both of these. The agreement will come as a confidence booster for the WTO after the failure of the Seattle and Cancun meetings.

“As a small open economy, heavily dependent on trade, the success at Hong Kong will restore stability to the multilateral rules based trading system”, the Minister concluded.

ENDS

TC200

Issued 19/12/05