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On 18 July, an extraordinary meeting of the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) took place in Brussels. Participating in the meeting was Foreign Ministry Secretary of State Normans Penke.
At the GAERC meeting, the EU member states exchanged opinions on their joint position in preparation for the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial Conference, which is to commence on 21 July in Geneva. The aim of the WTO Ministerial Conference will be to achieve a political agreement among WTO member states on the key open issues of the WTO Doha Development Round. Latvia is interested in achieving a balanced agreement on access to agricultural and industrial goods markets, and on the liberalisation of the services market.
The WTO Doha Development Round discussions among the WTO member states commenced in 2001 in order to lessen global trade restrictions. The main topics of the discussions concern the further liberalisation of the agricultural and industrial goods markets and the services market, special regulations for the gradual opening of markets in developing and of the least developed countries, and improvements to the current WTO regulations.
The GAERC meeting on WTO Doha Development Round negotiations will continue in Geneva from 21 July to, possibly, 25 July, during which time the joint position of the EU member states and the European Commission mandate will have to be co-ordinated and agreed upon at the WTO Ministerial Conference.
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