World Trade Organization's Director-General Pascal Lamy speeches on Hong Kong session.
We first met in September at your Geneva headquarters, when you had invited me to address your members exactly 3 weeks after I had taken office in the WTO. At the time we spoke about the preparatory work needed in the lead-up to the WTO's 6th Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. That Conference is now before us.
Assembled in Hong Kong today is a vast array of world leaders, of parliamentarians, of non-governmental organizations, and of media. This certainly creates a more challenging negotiating environment for WTO Members, but is a challenge that we must all rise to in Hong Kong.
I am heartened by the continued interest of parliamentarians in the WTO. Your presence in Hong Kong today brings greater democracy and accountability to the WTO as an institution. It reminds us of the importance of the project that countries launched back in 1947 in an attempt to bring law and order to international trade — that project was of course the “GATT”.
we all have a collective responsibility to strengthen that project, and to take it forward. After all, it is a project that has contributed to world peace and economic growth, and which has brought greater predictability and accountability to trade relations.
I would like to thank Mr. Casini for his call on this Parliamentary Conference to “remind negotiators of the imperative of reaching a successful outcome”. This is precisely the sort of message that would give momentum to this critical of week of negotiations.
marketing@alchempro.com
