Brussels, 25/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday evening the informal ministerial WTO meeting will begin before the Cancun conference in September. Commissioners Pascal Lamy and Franz Fischler will be present and will be meeting their US counterparts Bob Zoellick and Ann Veneman before the meeting and afterwards on Wednesday evening. the Montreal meeting aims to speed up negotiations and not take decisions, indicated the Commission. On agriculture, the Union believes that it has done its duty by reforming its agricultural subsidies system and does not intend to go any further, whereas the USA has not done likewise. The Commission declared that "the ball is in the American's court now". But the USA and many other members of the WTO consider that the Union must still open up its market and reduce its agricultural subsidies. For industrial goods, the Commission hopes to develop a general formula for lowering tariffs with sectoral complements that of further than the agreement. The Commission believes that on this point the project presented by the chair of the negotiating group on market access at the WTO, Pierre-Louis Girard, is a good basis for work. The third theme to be tackled: Singapore issues. Investment, competition, facilitation of trade and public procurement. The Commission is seeking a global compromise on these four themes, without leaving any of them out. It is still hoping to progress on access to medicines, as well as on the taking into account of international standards on environmental matters. Another crucial aspect is the setting up of a register recording geographic origins that include all products and not just wines and spirits.