Mr. Chairman, it is clear from the minister's words and actions that he is very optimistic as he heads to Qatar this week. Here is what he is up against.
The agriculture commissioner for the European Union, Franz Fischler, said recently that references to phasing out agricultural export subsidies in the World Trade Organization draft agenda were unacceptable. He went on to say that the union could not accept such a pre-negotiation of an outcome which was unacceptable to the union.
We are working with the Cairns Group and others but between the Americans and Europeans there are difficult problems to resolve. How does the minister intend to do that?