Brussels, 14/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - From Ljubljana, where the Trade Ministers met on Friday and Saturday, the Union and the 13 candidate countries called as one voice for a comprehensive round of negotiations to be opened on the liberalisation of world trade from this autumn. This common stance, confirmed in a declaration, comes two months from the report on preparations that WTO Director General Mike Moore has proposed to make. The most significant passages of the declaration are:
"The Ministers agreed on the importance of launching, at the 4th Ministerial meeting of the WTO to be held in Qatar in November 2001, a new comprehensive round of multilateral trade negotiations and agreed to continue to work together towards this shared objective. They agreed that the round should be based on a balanced agenda that would reflect the interests of all the members of the Multilateral Trading System. This round must be directed at strengthening access to markets, at developing and strengthening the rules and disciplines of the WTO and at promoting a better integration of developing countries into the Multilateral Trading System". They state that it should also lead to the improvement and reinforcement of existing WTO rules and disciplines in such areas as anti-dumping, clarification of the relationship between trade and the environment, as well as the establishment of rules in new areas such as investment, competition, trade facilitation and transparency in government procurement. In all these areas, Ministers agreed that the objective should be to increase transparency and predictability in trade relations, reduce the risk of protectionism and unilateralism and respond to the rapidly integrating international economic environment. The Ministers also stressed the need to make progress in the WTO's cooperation schemes designed to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of the developing countries, including the least developed countries. Ministers underlined the need for a transparent and inclusive preparatory process" involving all the members of the WTO, ensuring that the civil society has appropriate access to information and the opportunity for dialogue prior to and during the conference. Finally, while stressing the value of regular and constructive dialogue in the trade area, Ministers "agreed to enhance cooperation during the pre-Accession period".