EMMA THOMASSON, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.35pm
BUSINESS leaders on Thursday urged Commonwealth governments to speak with one voice at the forthcoming round of World Trade Organisation talks and push for more market access for its mostly poor members.
”The Commonwealth should advance a common position at the WTO,” the Commonwealth Business Forum said in its closing report to be handed to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) opening in the Indian Ocean city of Durban on Friday.
”The Commonwealth makes up 40% of the WTO membership and reflects its diversity. It has a unique opportunity to influence the Seattle WTO ministerial talks.”
Ministers from the 134 members of the WTO meet in Seattle at the end of this month to agree the text of a declaration on starting up a new round of trade liberalisation talks next year. The business forum, a gathering of over 600 delegates from across the Commonwealth, said the 54-nation block should press for a vigorous implementation of the agreements reached at the last round of free trade talks in Uruguay which ended in 1993.
Developing countries, who dominate the Commonwealth, feel they did not benefit fully from the Uruguay round and want to make sure their interests are not neglected in the new talks. ”We call for a new millennium round of negotiations with a balanced agenda focusing on market access,” Commonwealth Business Council chairman Lord Cairns told the forum.
The forum’s report called for the WTO round to focus on trade only and not include social and environmental standards, which many developing countries believe are being used by rich nations as a new form of trade barrier. — Reuters