(DALIANNEWS)—A news briefing held today in Dalian Nikko Hotels
International about the general information of the WTO Informal Ministerial
Meeting from July 12 to 13 in the city of Dalian, a south tip port city of
Liaodong Peninsula, N.E. China.
According to the source, Mr. Zhang
Xiangchen, Deputy Director General of the Department of WTO Affairs of the
Chinese Ministry of Commerce, 350 representatives from 30 WTO members have
affirmed to come and by July 11, 16:00 pm, there were 181 from 25 members had
arrived in. Over 100 persons are expected to come within today.
The
Dalian Meeting will last for one and a half days. China's Commerce Minister BO
Xilai and Secretary John C Tsang from Hong Kong, China will co-chair this event.
The afternoon of July 12th will be dedicated to agriculture negotiations which
consist of domestic support, market access and export subsidies. In the morning
of July 13th, discussion will embark on NAMA and Development issue.
The
working lunch on July 13 will focus on the "Roadmap to Hong Kong". Then talks
will be enclosed in the Services and Rules in the afternoon of 13th. After the
meeting concludes, Minister Bo Xilai and Secretary John C. Tsang will deliver
Chairmen's Declaration and hold a News Briefing together with WTO Director
General Dr. Supachai to release relevant information.
News Briefing held in Dalian, July.11,
2005
Over 200 correspondents will gather in the
city
Many foreign journalists just arrived Dalian and
rushed to the News Briefing Room with their luggages
>>>Background Information of Dalian
Meeting
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA) launched at the end of 2001 is
the first multilateral trade negotiations since the WTO was
established.
The main objective of DDA is to push forward world trade
liberalization and investment facilitation so as to promote development of all
economies, especially that of developing ones.
The negotiation is now at
a critical juncture. According to the prescribed agenda, Members should reach
the so-called "first approximation" by the end of July this year. In this
context, China is hosting the WTO Informal Ministerial Meeting precisely to move
forward Doha negotiations and make her due contribution to the multilateral
trading system.
More specifically, we hope that by holding full
discussions on key issues among Ministers, this meeting could provide political
guidance to the negotiation process in Geneva, bring negotiations on First
Approximation towards substantial progress at the end of July, and create
favorable conditions for the success of the 6th WTO Ministerial Meeting in Hong
Kong this December.
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