State Secretary Lucić attends FAC (Trade)

State Secretary for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Zdenko Lucić on Thursday attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (Trade).

The ministers exchanged views on the trade policy review, with an emphasis on the concept of Open Strategic Autonomy.

In the context of the WTO reform, the ministers focused on the preparations and priorities for the next WTO Ministerial Conference that will take place in Geneva from 30 November to 3 December 2021.

The Council agreed on the importance of transatlantic trade relations, underscoring a constructive dialogue with the U.S. and joint work on reforms - not just the WTO reform, but new initiatives as well.

The Commission informed the Council about the state of play of the negotiations on the International Procurement Instrument, the state of play of the ongoing steel safeguard investigation and the state of play regarding the EU-Mercosur deal.

In the afternoon, the ministers had an informal exchange of views with the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.