Mr HAWKER (2:46 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Trade. Minister, what have been the results of the government's efforts to improve the access of developing countries to essential medicines? Will these help to open up access for Australian exporters to overseas markets?

Mr VAILE (Minister for Trade) —I thank the honourable member for Wannon for his question. I acknowledge his interest in the opportunities we are trying to create for Australian exporters, particularly agricultural exporters. One of our very strong hopes and policy positions with regard to the multilateral trade negotiations that are being undertaken is that we can significantly improve the circumstances for Australia's farmers in getting access to the markets of the world. One of the issues that needed to be addressed early on in this round and that still needs to be addressed is that of access to much-needed medicines for epidemics in the developing world. On 14 and 15 November, I chaired an informal mini ministerial meeting of the WTO, in Sydney. It was a great success because we made significant progress in creating a framework that will enable the poor countries of the world to get affordable access to these much-needed medicines. Whilst it focused on a large number of purely economic issues within the WTO, it also focused on what I termed the `moral obligations' of the developed world to look after the interests of the developing world in this regard. Twenty-five countries were represented at the meeting, representing about 80 per cent of global trade. The meeting was very successful in that it moved a long way towards developing a framework that will enable countries like Lesotho, in southern Africa, to get affordable access to medicines, particularly for HIV-AIDS. In that country, 31 per cent of the population between the ages of 15 and 25 suffer from HIV-AIDS. It was part of the mandate from Doha that this year the WTO address this issue. Certainly, the meeting in Sydney went a long way towards doing that.

Going to the member for Wannon's question, it is important to unlock the door to the next stage of substantive negotiations next year on market access for agriculture. We had a lengthy discussion at the meeting about the range of market access with regard to agriculture, industrial goods and services. We heard for the first time at that meeting that the Japanese delegation intended to make public on 18 November their position on agriculture, which they did. The European Union delegation indicated for the first time, at that meeting, that they also would endeavour to put down publicly their position on agriculture by the end of this year. The meeting was a great success in keeping the momentum moving forward. As far as the negotiations are concerned, it is our No. 1 trade policy priority to achieve an outcome in this round. The series of mini ministerial meetings, of which Sydney was the third, have all been extremely successful in continuing to maintain that momentum, particularly in areas of interest to Australia.

The meeting in Sydney was particularly unusual in that it focused on what I call a moral issue rather than a pure economic issue, which is to help developing countries in the area of access to medicines. It is a very complicated process of waiving intellectual property rights for those medicines where the intellectual property rights are held by the wealthy, developed countries, particularly the United States and the European Union. Those who attended from the developing countries went away feeling very comfortable that something was going to be done within this economic forum about their dilemma and their concerns. I recently received a letter from the European Union Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, who attended the meeting. It states, in part:

That is proof positive of the role that Australia plays in this multilateral forum in moving forward this process that will, in the end, significantly benefit Australia's producers, farmers and exporters. It will also significantly benefit the developing countries that need and are entitled to better access to world markets, as are Australian farmers and producers. Again, Australia continues to lead the way in its engagement and involvement in this multilateral system and in ensuring that it achieves those goals.