Trade ministers from 33 countries on Thursday began crafting a ”rough” plan to conclude talks to liberalise global commerce further by 2006, paying particular attention to the interests of poorer countries, officials said.
Ministers will provide ”the political leadership” in efforts to flesh out a July 2004 framework accord on new global trade rules — to ensure success at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference set for Hong Kong in December, Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi said.
The meeting ”is an opportunity for us to set goals, make commitments, show flexibility but also rededicate ourselves to a high level of ambition on what we want to achieve” in the current round of trade talks that were launched in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, Kituyi said.
”We have all set ourselves a commitment that we want the Doha round to be completed successfully next year,” he said.
The meeting in Kenya is an important step in efforts to advance the trade talks, said WTO Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi.
He said that the WTO has five months to prepare ”another July package” to ”prepare us to finish the task by Hong Kong that would set the modalities for the countries to finish the full liberalisation schedules by 2006”.
Earlier on Thursday, police arrested 68 anti-globalisation demonstrators to keep them from reaching the meeting’s venue, said Richard Masinde, the Kwale police station chief.
Past WTO meetings have drawn protesters who claim a globalised economic system benefits rich nations at the expense of poorer ones. Some of the protests have turned violent.
Police arrested 53 protesters, all Kenyan, early on Thursday at roadblocks set up to stop demonstrators from reaching the ministers’ meeting point, said Masinde.
An Associated Press reporter saw police arrest 15 other demonstrators, who had tried twice to gather at the meeting point.
”We are shocked at the action of the police because whatever we are protesting against does affect them as well,” said Patrick Ochieng, a protester.
It was not clear whether the protesters would face any charges. — Sapa-AP