Brussels / Geneva, 09/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - The World Trade Organisation has regained its "driving-force" with the decision taken last week of creating a mechanism to settle problems of implementing the multilateral commitments of developing countries and the announced opening of markets essential for the least advanced of them (the "least advanced countries" - LACs). This assessment of the state of health of the institution, "whose wheels have been spinning for some time", comes from Mike Moore, its Director General, whose efforts to launch this new round of multilateral negotiations had failed, among other things, on this issue of the implementation of earlier decisions. It was already the great problem of many WTO members before Seattle, and improved market access for LCAs has, he recalled, been on the trade agenda for decades.
The decision, taken by the ambassadors of the 136, will allow to convene special sessions to deal with the main difficulties of implementing arrangements that were raised in the preparatory stage of the last WTO ministerial. The process, which is to begin by June and end before the ministerial of 2001, "will assess existing difficulties, identify the necessary means to solve them and take decisions on appropriate actions", Mr. Moore stipulated. Several member delegations, including the four large trading powers (European Union, United States, Japan and Canada, the Quad) officially proposed to reserve a treatment both exempt of customs duties and quotas for practically all the products coming from the LACs. Others followed suit, saying that they had already opened (or intended accelerating the opening) of their markets to the LACS: Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Slovenia and Switzerland, accounting, with the Quad, for almost 70% of world imports.