Hong Kong's Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology told
Xinhua News Agency yesterday he hoped the 300 ministers from 149
economies due to attend the WTO's one-week 6th Ministerial
Conference (MC6) can show flexibility and political commitment.
"Hong Kong will do its best to achieve tangible progress in the
upcoming MC6 and most ministers have promised to play a more active
role," said John Tsang, who will chair the conference.
The MC6, scheduled for December 13 to 18, is thought to be an
important platform for advancing stagnated Doha Round negotiations,
which are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006.
Having returned from the WTO General Council Meeting in Geneva
on Sunday, Tsang said most members considered the MC6 a key stage
for the Doha Round of talks, and that he believed a bottom-up
strategy for drawing-up a conference declaration was favorable.
Tsang said that in order to achieve progress regarding major
sectors such as agriculture, non-agricultural products market
access, rules and service, he had invited six other ministers as
conference facilitators, five of whom are from developing
countries.
The Doha Development Agenda, or DDA, aims to promote free trade
and help underdeveloped countries to access global markets.
Tsang said one of the suggestions he would put forward during
the conference will be to grant free tariff and market access to
dozens of the world's most underdeveloped countries.
He said if the aim was reached, developing countries could enjoy
an "Early Harvest," which would be a great encouragement to
developing economies.
According to Tsang, Hong Kong was a small fishing village 50
years ago but became an international trade and financial center
because of a policy of opening to the outside world, which he said
was achieved with the backing of the motherland as well as the hard
work of Hong Kong people.
He said the MC6 is the first ministerial WTO conference to be
held in China and the largest ever international conference in Hong
Kong since its return from British administration eight years
ago.
He said he believed it will be an excellent opportunity to
showcase the special administrative region's success and let the
overseas guests see the great change that free trade has brought to
it.
?
(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2005)