ARUN JAITLEY TO ATTEND
WTO MINI MINISTERIAL IN TOKYO
A high level delegation
consisting of Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister for Commerce &
Industry and Law & Justice and Shri Ajit Singh, Minister for
Agriculture, will be attending the mini ministerial meeting on
World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues scheduled to be held in
Tokyo from 14-16 February, 2003. Other members of the delegation
are: Shri Dipak Chatterjee, Commerce Secretary; Shri S.N. Menon,
Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry; and
Shri K.M. Chandrasekhar, Ambassador & Permanent Representative
of India to the WTO/Geneva. The meeting, being hosted by the Government
of Japan, is intended to facilitate an informal exchange of views
among key WTO member countries, representing both the developed
and the developing world, on major issues in the ongoing multilateral
trade negotiations. Earlier, a similar gathering of leading member
countries had taken place at the Sydney mini ministerial in November
2002.
About 24 countries
are expected to participate in the meeting – Australia, Brazil,
Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, European Commission, Egypt,
Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Lesotho, Malaysia,
Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa,
Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago and USA.
The focus of negotiations
at the Tokyo mini ministerial is expected to be on Agriculture
and TRIPs (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) and Public
Health.
The agenda of the
meeting will include Market Access-related issues covering Agriculture
as well as Non-Agricultural Products and Services; Singapore Issues
– i.e., issues that had emanated from the first Ministerial Conference
of the WTO held at Singapore in 1996 namely, Investment, Competition,
Trade Facilitation, and Transparency in Government Procurement;
Development-related issues; Rules and other issues, besides general
discussions on Road to Cancun.
Discussions at Tokyo
-- as in the case of Sydney mini ministerial earlier – will thus
be on various issues covered under the Work Programme which was
agreed by Ministers at the Doha Ministerial Conference of the
WTO in November 2001. The objective of the mini ministerial is
essentially to see how further progress can be made in taking
forward the Doha Work Programme by the time of the next Ministerial
Conference of the WTO which is to be held in Cancun (Mexico) in
September 2003.
