The next meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (Trade) will take place in Brussels on 10 November 2017. The Hungarian delegation will be led by H.E. Dr. Olivér VÁRHELYI Ambassador Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative.
The Council will review the state of play of the negotiations in the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the preparations for the 11th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC11) to be held in Buenos Aires this December. Unfortunately still major differences can be observed among the WTO Members’ positions regarding most of the issues negotiated. In Hungary’s view, under these circumstances the EU should have realistic and moderate expectations for the outcome of the MC11 and formulate its positon accordingly.
Ministers will discuss the state of play of the EU free trade negotiations with Mercosur and the modernization of the existing Global Agreement with Mexico. In both cases the parties aim to reach political agreements on the main parameters by the end of 2017. Hungary sees solid progress and looks forward to finalizing the negotiations with Mexico. Concerning the negotiations with Mercosur, our fundamental interest is to ensure that the potential agreement reflects Hungarian agricultural sensitivities appropriately.
Commissioner Malmström will present to the Ministers the Commission’s report on Implementation of Free Trade Agreements.
During a working lunch Ministers will be debriefed on the state of play of the free trade negotiations with Japan and the possible conclusion of the negotiations by the end of this year. Based on the results achieved so far Hungary regards this objective desirable and attainable. Ministers will also discuss the possible improvements of the implementation of Trade and Sustainable Development chapters in EU trade agreements.
