|
|
| Monday, November 12, 2001, updated at 21:03(GMT+8) |
WTO Members Seen to Agree on TRIPS, Implementation,Agriculture |
|
World trade ministers will likely reach a consensus on the issues of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, agriculture and implementation of previous agreements Monday to clear the way for setting an agenda for new trade talks, Cameroon Minister of Industrial and Commercial Development Bello Bouba said Monday.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
World trade ministers will likely reach a consensus on the issues of trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights, agriculture and implementation of previous agreements Monday to clear the way for setting an agenda for new trade talks, Cameroon Minister of Industrial and Commercial Development Bello Bouba said Monday.
"I think in the TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), a consensus is likely to be reached today, and I think also in agriculture and in implementation," Bouba told Xinhua.
Developing countries are not quite opposed to a resumption of multilateral trade talks provided that due attention paid to their main concerns, namely agriculture and implementation of previous commitments made by developed countries in the Uruguay Round agreements, he stressed.
As developing countries, Bouba said, "it is more important for us to have our agricultural capacities built up before tackling new issues like environment."
While stating he remains optimistic about the prospect of the ongoing tough negotiations, Bouba urged the United States and other developed countries to compromise if "they want to carry the whole world."
He said much consultations have been done among the 70-nation Asian, Caribbean and Pacific Countries (ACP) on their positions during the current conference.
Possible sticking points are new issues or the so-called Singapore issues -- investment, competition policy, government procure and trade facilitation, Bouba said.
Most developing countries, in particular the least-developed countries (LDCs), has been resistant to a draft declaration committing members to negotiations on these new issues.
Trade ministers are now continuing to meet in six separate working groups trying to smooth out differences on agriculture, implementation, environment, new issues, rules on anti-dumping, and intellectual property rights and public health respectively.
|
|
|
|
|