Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Regarding your question on the state of play in the WTO Doha negotiations, where we are at present is seemingly where we always are--at a point of crisis. I briefed some members of this committee last week on the state of play in the negotiations. Essentially, in the follow-up to the Hong Kong ministerial conference in December we had set a new deadline to achieve modalities, the detailed formulas and commitments, in the core negotiating areas of agriculture and non-agricultural market access by April 30. The week before that deadline the director general had made an announcement that it was clear that members were going to miss that deadline and that he had decided at that point not to bring ministers together, but to launch a re-intensified negotiating process over a six-week period, taking us to mid-June.
So, essentially, where we are now is we're re-engaged in around-the-clock negotiations for members to overcome the difficult issues at hand in order to come up with that framework by mid-June. At that point there will be another stock-taking exercise, and our aim remains to come to an agreement on a deal by the end of July. We're certainly cognizant of the deadlines looming and certain constraints, as you mentioned, specifically relating to the exploration of the U.S. fast-track negotiating authority, which expires on July 1, 2007. Obviously, we'll need to come to a conclusion of this round by the end of this year in order to meet that deadline.
As you indicated, there is a lot of work remaining and there are a lot of challenges ahead of us, but the battle is ongoing.