John Tsang, chairman of the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of World Trade Organization (WTO), said Sunday in Hong Kong that the coming MC6 conference in Hong Kong is a key phase for completing Doha Round negotiations, urging all WTO members to treasure every possible chance to push ahead with the stagnated talks.

Returning to Hong Kong Sunday morning after attending a WTO meeting in Geneva, Tsang made the remarks at an economic forum held in Hong Kong later in the day.

The World Bank estimated that if the Doha Round is completed, it could bring 300 billion US dollars of additional growth annually to the global economy in the coming 10 years, it could also reduce the poverty-stricken population by 140 million by 2015, he said.

He said the WTO members should not give up the Doha Round talks and chances to advance the process in any cases.

Tsang said he expected the coming MC6 to lay a solid foundation for an open environment for trade and help to push ahead with the early completion of the Doha Round and help to bring more economic opportunities for the people in the world.

The MC6 is scheduled to be held in Hong Kong between Dec. 13 and 18. Over 11,000 delegates and non-government organization representatives will attend the conference.

Tsang said the Doha Round negotiations are targeting on development, helping developing economic entities merge into the global economic system by promotion of the free trade.

He said since the Doha Round talks started in November of 2001, the WTO members have been making thorough discussion of the various topics. In the APEC summit held in Busan of South Korea in mid November, APEC leaders issued a statement calling for efforts for advancing the stagnated Doha Round negotiations.

He believed the statement is a strong impetus to the Doha Round negotiations.

Tsang said that to achieve a better result for the MC6, he will keep close contacts with various WTO members in making final preparations for the conference.

Source: Xinhua