Deputy Minister Klisović attends FAC Trade

Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Joško Klisović attended the Foreign Affairs Council in trade formation

Deputy Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Joško Klisović attended the Foreign Affairs Council in trade formation. The meeting saw the first appearance by the new Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström, with a keynote address by High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini.

Mogherini stressed that trade was an important element of foreign policy, adding that in the following five years she would work on the coordination of instruments and policies at her disposal and underlining the link between national and European policies. She said that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) bore special significance for political relations with the US as well, emphasizing that the negotiations needed to be transparent and inclusive. She announced a Riga summit for May 2015, which will provide an opportunity to evaluate the successfulness of trade policy.

The main topics of FAC concerned the Doha Round, with the ministers expressing satisfaction over the agreement between India and the US, as well as the announced signing of the Protocol to the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The ministers adopted conclusions on the EU-US TTIP negotiations and the conclusions regarding the trade policy. The European Commission reported on the status of the Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Japan and Vietnam.

The ministers also underlined the importance of TTIP for growth and employment, hopeful that the ambitious agreement would be signed as early as 2015.

The meeting also discussed legal proposals regarding the Modernization of Trade Defence Instruments and the International Public Procurement Instrument. 

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