6th WTO Ministerial Conference, golden opportunity to demonstrate collective resolve: HK chief executive

Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Tuesday that the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference is a golden opportunity for people to demonstrate their collective resolve to improve the lives of peoples throughout the world through progressive trade liberalization.

Hong Kong, as host and Chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), will do its utmost to bring about a successful outcome, said Tsang at the Inaugural Session of the WTO Conference at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center..

"We offered to host this Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference because we recognized that it would become a key staging post to the successful conclusion of the multilateral trade negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda," Tsang said.

He said that Hong Kong wants to play a part in the collective effort to realize the ambitions of the Doha Round, and people in Hong Kong are determined to make this important event a success.

"Trade liberalization and economic growth is a permanent goal for all of us as WTO members," he said, adding the negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda must press ahead, and the integrity and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system must be vigorously defended.

He also said that the conference is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to enhance the existing international trading environment; 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.

Tsang said that Hong Kong's continued participation in the WTO and in international trade agreements under the name of "Hong Kong, China" is enshrined in the Basic Law, the constitution of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

"We treasure the certainty, protection and benefits that the WTO brings to our economy and community," said Tsang.

Source: Xinhua