Ireland has a greater interest in launching a new trade round than most World Trade Organisation (WTO) members, according to the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Trade, Mr Tom Kitt. He said that as a State exporting 80 per cent of what it produced, Ireland was one of the world's most spectacular beneficiaries of trade liberalisation.
"We are a perfect example of a country that was relatively poor and has benefited strongly from an open, rule-based, fair trading environment," he said.
Mr Kitt, who will address the WTO's Ministerial Conference in Doha today, said Ireland wanted to make a positive contribution to the negotiations.
But he insisted that there was no question of compromising on the issue of farm subsidies.
He said that the uncertain economic climate throughout the world made agreeing to launch a new round of trade negotiations more important than ever for small countries.
"The huge level of US investment in Ireland makes you conscious of the markets we reach. No US company invested in Ireland just to reach the Irish market. We are not only reaching EU markets but the rest of the world."
As a former Development Minister, Mr Kitt said he was acutely aware of the concerns of developing countries which felt they had not benefited sufficiently from existing free trade rules. But he said poorer countries would be acting against their own interests if they prevented a new round from being launched.
"From the point of view of the developing world, it is crucial that we get an agreement. Trade is their route to prosperity."
At a meeting of EU ministers on Saturday, Mr Kitt raised the issue of access to medicines for poorer countries. Developing states want a declaration guaranteeing that WTO rules protecting patents will not prevent them producing or buying cheap versions of drugs to treat conditions such as HIV and Aids.
The EU is seeking to broker a compromise between a group of countries led by the US which wants to restrict the terms under which countries can breach patent rights, and developing countries that want to be able to respond to any threat to public health.
Developing countries complain that a new round of trade talks cannot help them unless the EU agrees to phase out subsidies for farm exports. But Mr Kitt denied that the Government was being hypocritical in claiming to support poorer countries while refusing to compromise on farm subsidies.
"It's not hypocritical, in that different countries have different interests. We have a huge problem with agriculture. You can't have dramatic changes that would impact severely on our own domestic economy. There aren't too many issues we're making a stand on but we're making a stand on this," he said.
