6th WTO Ministerial Conference opens in Hong Kong

Ministers from 149 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) gathered Tuesday afternoon in Hong Kong to open the Sixth Ministerial Conference in a new bid to push forward the stalled Doha Round trade talks.

Speaking at the opening session, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Donald Tsang said, "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance the existing international trading environment."

The meeting is set "to generate wealth on a broader and deeper scale globally, and most important of all, to help alleviate the pain of poverty for millions of people living in the poorer parts of the world," he added.

"It would become a key staging post to the successful conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda," the HKSAR chief said, promising Hong Kong will make the meeting a success.

John Tsang, HKSAR trade chief and chairman of the Hong Kong meeting, stressed that the WTO is at a "crucial juncture" and WTO members had shown their "unity of purpose and resolve" to start the Doha Round trade talks in 2001.

The meeting, attended by 5,800 delegates from WTO's 149 members and 2,100 representatives from non-governmental organizations at the Convention and Exhibition Center, will focus on the topics of the Doha Round, which aims to reduce farm subsidies and tariffs, liberalize service trade and provide economic aids to developing countries.

Launched in the Qatari capital in 2001, the Doha Round bogged down in a deadlock over farm subsidies, which pitted mainly rich countries against poor ones.

Source: Xinhua