In order to establish a comprehensive and up-to-date perspective of the vital decisions taken at the World Trade Organisation's Fifth Ministerial Conference in Cancún this September, SITPRO, the CBI and ICC.UK are holding an International Trade Conference on Tuesday 21st October to discuss 'World Trade Post-Cancún'.
The conference is primarily aimed at bringing the business community up to speed with the outcomes from Cancún and to anticipate the likely impact on international trade. A number of high profile figures have agreed to speak at this event, including Digby Jones, the Director-General at the CBI, who is an Official Observer at the WTO conference. Another of the speakers, Peter Sutherland, the founding Director-General of the WTO and Co-Chairman of BP Amoco, has recently been appointed as the Chairman of the WTO's Consultative Board on the Future of the Multilateral Trading System.
Church House, Westminster - The location where the founding principles that led to GATT were agreed
The conference is being held at Church House in Westminster, a venue strongly linked with world trade issues. It was where the founding principles that led to the GATT framework, and subsequently the WTO, were agreed in 1947.
It was in December 1996, at the first WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore, that the Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) was directed to investigate "the simplification of trade procedures in order to assess the scope for WTO rules in this area". In November 2001, the Doha WTO Ministerial Declaration agreed that, subject to a decision about the modalities of negotiations to be taken in Cancún, negotiations on a trade facilitation agreement would begin.
As we have reported in SITPRO News, SITPRO has been promoting its proposed approach to a WTO agreement on trade facilitation around the world. It addresses the critically important question of how, in practice, to encourage all WTO members, including developing countries, to support and implement such an agreement. SITPRO is advocating a flexible approach, which would allow developing countries to implement progressively a comprehensive package of trade facilitation measures at a pace within their capabilities.
David Wakeford, SITPRO's Chief Executive said, "A successful outcome from the World Trade Organisation's Ministerial Meeting in Cancún is vital to stimulate the world economy and to strengthen the foundations for international trade". Whatever decisions are taken in Cancún, there will be plenty to discuss at October's conference as we assess the challenges facing world trade in the coming years.
Return to SITPRO News: Issue 46, August/September 2003
