Pakistan and China to protect poor nations' interests

China will work together with Pakistan and other regional countries to protect the interests of the developing nations, while adopting a "balanced package" at World Trade Organisation (WTO) Doha Round of free trade talks next year.
A senior Chinese official said here on Wednesday that all parties concerned should reach a consensus on all key issues relating to the Doha round in Hong Kong, which is gearing up to hold a ministerial meeting on December 13 to lay a foundation for the Doha round in 2006.
He said China would continue to play a "positive and constructive" role in the talks and make the Hong Kong Ministerial meeting a success by joining hands with other WTO members.
The Doha round should make efforts to practically carry forward the process of trade liberalisation and essentially increase the opportunity of market access for the WTO developing members and take into consideration their problems in the process of trade liberalisation.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce John Tsang Tsang said Pakistan and China would be among the major partners, facilitating negotiations in settling core issues, being faced by the WTO.
In a statement, he said the issues of some basic nature would come under discussion at the six-day WTO's ministerial meeting. Pakistan will be represented at this crucial meeting by the Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan.
Sources told newsmen in Beijing that Pakistan attached great importance to the meeting and wished to play an active role to ensure fair trade opportunities and access of their agriculture products to the developed countries.
The WTO's ministerial conference is the highest decision-making body, meeting at least once every two years and providing political direction for the organisation. This sixth conference will be vital for enabling the four-year-old Doha development agenda negotiations forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006.
John Tsang urged the 148 WTO members to demonstrate their global vision and individual courage to make a success of the ministerial conference. Tsang assured the WTO members that preparations for the ministerial conference were now complete.
He said the conference would not be just an occasion for stocktaking. "We will be fully engaged in serious negotiations," he said. "We will aim to ratchet up the extent and quality of our convergence, and set the platform for the next stage of our preparation towards the conclusion of the (Doha) Round by the end of 2006," he said.