"I wish the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of WTO to be held in Hong Kong in December to achieve substantial results and become the most important milestone in Doha Round negotiations," said John Tsang, chairman of the MC6, in South Korea's port city of Busan on Saturday.

Tsang, head of Hong Kong Commerce, Industry & Technology Bureau, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sideline of the ongoing APEC forum.

He said advancing the stagnated Doha Round negotiations has become a common expectation of the members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Tsang said he had talks with officials of nearly all the other APEC members and all of them expect to see tangible results in the Hong Kong conference.

He said since the beginning of this year, he visited a number of ministerial level officials in some countries, to learn about their exceptions for the Hong Kong conference.

Tsang expects the success of the Doha round of negotiations, scheduled to be finished by the end of 2006, can benefit more developing countries.

As for the preparations for the Hong Kong conference, he said Hong Kong has begun to closer its contacts with South Korea while the two places had started their preparations for the respective meetings more than one year ago.

Several Hong Kong security officers came all the way from Hong Kong to observe the security of the current forum and learn from their South Korean counterparts.

During the current forum, South Korea mobilized about 47,000 personnel to form the country's largest ever security force for a single event since the country's recovery in 1945. The security force launch air, marine and land patrols around the venue of the forum and hotels where leaders accommodate.

Tsang said Hong Kong could learn from South Korea in the application of wide band technology for technology support of the forum and ways of receiving participants to the forum.

He said Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government has allocated 250 million HK dollars (32.05 million US dollars) for preparations for the meeting.

And detailed plans and options have been made for transport, conference facilities, hotels, telecommunications, security and some other related fields.

He said Hong Kong citizens are also actively to join in the volunteers' team and the several thousands of Hong Kong citizens will serve as volunteers for the conference.

To receive more than 11,000 delegates, correspondents and non- government organization representatives during the conference, Hong Kong is ready to maintain its good international image and try to attract more tourists and investment globally through the successful hosting of the conference.

Source: Xinhua