John Tsang, chairman of the Sixth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, said Tuesday that Hong Kong would serve as a launching pad for the final stage of negotiations and early success of the Doha Round.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, Tsang promised to provide a favorable environment for a transparent and inclusive conference.

He admitted negotiations on agriculture, tariffs and other issues presented challenges to negotiators.

Talking about the Doha Round talks, Tsang said significant progress has been made since the launch of the Round in November 2001, yet there are many difficulties to overcome in Hong Kong.

He said the middle name of the DDA (Doha Development Agenda) is "Development" and what they were seeking to do was to help developing economies better integrate into the global trading system so that they could also reap the benefits of free and open trade.

The Doha Development Agenda negotiations are arguably the most complex and difficult yet undertaken, he said.

Agricultural produce aside, the margins for tariff reduction are by definition the narrowest following eight earlier Rounds, he added.

Key negotiating areas, most notably the reduction and elimination of agricultural subsidies, are politically sensitive to many WTO members, he said.

However, he said, WTO "members agreed to take up this challenge and pressed on vigorously with the negotiations because we recognized the quickening pace of global interdependence."

Source: Xinhua