Brussels, 01/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - As announced in the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration within the framework of the Doha Round, the groups of WTO members have been invited to put to the other members their demands on the various services sectors from 28 February. Multilateral meetings to examine these demands are planned during the next series of meetings on services, to be held from 27 March to 7 April. The European Union now expects its partners to respond to its requests so as to ensure that the revised offers on the services section are put on the negotiating table before the end of July (the date by which offers have to be submitted, before the submission of members lists of commitments at the end of October). The result should be an increase in world trade in services which is key both for world development and for job creation in the EU, said a European Commission press release. The EU has argued for greater opening of trade in services in road, sea and air transport sectors, energy services, postal and telecommunications services, banking, financial and insurance services, legal services, engineering and architecture. It is not involved in any request on sensitive public service sectors (water, health, education, culture and audiovisual). While the numbers involved in collective requests vary depending on the sector, the multilateral negotiations involve between 30 and 40 member countries, largely developing countries or emerging countries. No request has been made for the benefit of the least advanced countries and most developing countries are excluded from the scope of collective requests.