The Hindu : Global meet calls for equitable trade regime

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 20, 2004

International

International

Global meet calls for equitable trade regime

By Haroon Habib

DHAKA, JAN. 19. Trade Ministers and experts from 37 countries ended their two-day negotiations on trade issues in Dhaka on Sunday, calling for establishing an equitable global trade regime benefitting both the rich and poor countries.

They also called for resumption of multilateral trade talks to formulate a "negotiation framework" within the first half of this year and expressed concern at what they said were "perceived security concerns" overtaking the global economic agenda and felt that multilateralism was the only answer to the problems faced by the world economy.

The International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh (ICC-B) organised the conference, which was attended by representatives from 37 countries including India, China and France. It was billed as the largest gathering of trade officials after the failed WTO talks in Cancun last year. Inaugurating the conference, the Bangladesh Prime Minister, Begum Khaleda Zia, said, "Cancun may be considered a setback, but we still have opportunity to turn things around".

Delivering the keynote address, the Thailand Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, said developing countries need to prepare for a world that is becoming fiercely competitive, where they have to depend on themselves and where they need to take charge of their own destinies.

On the concluding day, the WTO director-general, Supachai Panitchpakadi, said he wanted breakthroughs on major trade issues by June while the European Union's Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, set a March-April deadline.

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