The WTO Third Ministerial Meeting has been on at Seattle, USA, from November 30 to December 3. This is a meeting with participants each stating a price and his views in an intense mercantile atmosphere. Commodity forms no specific items but a tense wrangle over operational rules, forms and agenda for new round of talks and these will decide on exports and areas of world trade to be developed in the coming new century.

Since opening of the Seattle meeting there has been no way to rule out all possible intricacies for the attendees to entangle themselves in a haggling over each other's national interest and the aims and rules of the WTO.

An outstanding aspect to the Seattle meeting is that EU and Japan differ with the US and Australia over disputes centering on a liberalization of agriculture. Agriculture exporters like the US and Australia otherwise hope for an accelerated liberalization process of agricultural products while EU and Japan are just against a hasty liberalization of these for safe agricultural (grain) production.

Conflicts of interest between the developing countries and the developed have highlighted the Seattle meeting. This is because for the part of the developing countries no due preferential treatment or considerations have been given not to say their de facto entry in the WTO on an equal footing according to agreements reached during the previous Uruguay Round talks.

Before opening of the Seattle meeting UN Secretary-general Anna published a meaningful article. In his article, he talked about "the industrialized world should not solve their own problems at the expense of the poor countries"; though many developing countries have let their economies open up "yet they have found tariffs cut by the rich countries are not so much as they have cut". Anna stressed that "the world is in need of a fair free trade system" and that "the WTO must not fail to attend to its important mission: To expand all the benefits of free trade to the whole developing world".

Director-general of the WTO Mike Moore has also been quoted as saying that the developing countries should join in a multilateral trade system and be given practical gains as a challenge to the WTO in the 21st century. The new round trade talks should be conducted to further the interest of the developing countries.

UN Secretary-general Anna and Director-general of the WTO Mike Moore both have with their statements dealt as a matter of fact with a righteous cause relating to the fundamental principles and aim of the WTO. To help the poor forms the important foundation stone of human society. The WTO must undertake such a righteous cause and only thus can all participants get to a common view, a view that has come to be shared now by an increased number of people.

Market exchanges, development of trade, involve essentially striking a balance of interests. Unbalanced exchanges, an unfair economic order, will obstruct and even cancel all trade activities. In this sense, only when WTO principles in advancing the interest of the developing countries are generally accepted there will be the possibility for a full development of multilateral trade round the world. Only thus genuine free trade can become true.

"Millennium Round" talks are expected. Stalemates or impasses may be met in WTO talks for different divisions or claims of interest. There are righteous as well as oppositions calls that have been issued. This is the complicated scene of the WTO Third Ministerial Meeting people have seen at Seattle in the US these recent days. (By Huang Qing)