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WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said in Hong Kong Sunday that "Hong Kong is not just another Port of Call for Doha round negotiations, it is our best opportunity to bring the round to conclusion by the end of 2006."
He made the remarks at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club after attending a NGO Round-Table Forum in Hong Kong.
He said "we have missed deadlines throughout the course of this round, notably the deadline we set at Doha in November 2001 to conclude the round at the beginning of 2005."
Lamy said "it would present us with problems far more profound than in the past, because unlike the others, the deadline is real."
He said "if we are to conclude the round by the end of next year, the Hong Kong ministerial meetings of the WTO must be a success. In my view, it means we must use this occasion to resolve two-thirds of the issues on our agenda. We must complete the bulk of the work in agriculture, industrial tariff reduction and services."
He said Hong Kong's hosting of the WTO's ministerial meetings in December is entirely appropriate because the people of this region know a thing or two about challenges.
He said Hong Kong boasts little by way of natural resources, but it is blessed with a superb harbor and in ingenious and hardworking people. It has always embraced trade and is virtually without rival when it comes to successfully dismantling barriers to the flow of trade.
He said, in less than two months time, "we will know the result of the Hong Kong meeting and the future of the Doha round. The world expects a great deal from us in the coming weeks and months all world together to ensure that collectively we meet this challenge."
(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2005)
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