US trade representative Rob Portman said on Wednesday in Busan that the United States has made efforts to advance the stagnating Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.

Speaking at a press conference here, the US trade representative said the United States also hopes the WTO Ministerial Meeting to be held next month in Hong Kong will be successful.

He said the just released joint statement of the APEC ministers is "timely" and "important."

The ministers reaffirmed the utmost importance APEC economies attached to the successful conclusion of the DDA negotiations by the end of 2006 with an ambitious and overall balanced outcome.

The US trade representative said the completion of the Doha round negotiations is key to the region and the whole world economy and that the life of citizens in the region is expected to improve with the trade expansion.

He said the Doha round is of special importance to the APEC member economies as they represent nearly half of the world trade volume.

The US official said he believes that the completion of the negotiations can also set trade patterns for countries worldwide in the next decade.

He said he also believes Hong Kong will never be the end of the DDA negotiations, rather, it will be a milestone on the way.

"We want to have more roadmaps" in Hong Kong, Portman said, stressing Hong Kong meetings will be a good chance and "we should not allow the opportunities to slip away from us."

Source: Xinhua