NEXT WORLD TRADE NEGOTIATIONS MUST SUCCEED - NZ

  Ministers from more than 20
  nations were told by New Zealand that the next international
  negotiations on liberalising trade would be the last this
  century and the cost of failure could not be measured.
      Trade minister Mike Moore told his colleagues at a
  welcoming ceremony before two days of talks here that great
  progress had been made in preparing for the negotiations which
  must not be sidetracked.
      "We live in troubled and dangerous times for the world
  trading system," he said.
      "We have seen that the failure of the world trading system
  has caused great depression and conflict in the past. Our
  failure to maintain the momentum will be at great cost to us
  all," Moore said.
      He added: "The cost of failure is beyond calculation. It is
  our last hope and best opportunity this century. We will not
  get another chance before the year 2000."
      The ministers are in New Zealand to review world trade
  since the "Uruguay round" talks last Sepember. The meeting is
  also part of preparations for a full-scale conference of the
  General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Venice in
  June.
      The Uruguay meeting is considered by most countries to have
  been particularly successful, with northern hemisphere
  countries managing to have service industries such as banking
  and insurance included in the next full round.
      The southerners' goal of including agricultural and
  tropical products also was met.
      The meeting at this North Island tourist resort is
  described by participants as informal and no declaration is
  expected.
      Moore said one aim was to "instil a sense of political
  urgency to avert potential economic tragedy."
      Another was to seek ways of popularising freer trade to
  people who felt the pain of readjustment but could not see the
  benefits, as well as preventing "bush fires of confrontation
  while we proceed with orderly negotiations."
      The meeting is being attended by 25 overseas delegations
  including representatives of GATT and the Economic Community.
      The delegates include U.S. Trade Representative Clayton
  Yeutter.
      American sources say he is ready to state that the best way
  to reverse protectionist sentiment in the United States is to
  implement four key Uruguay proposals:
      -- an end to agricultural subsidies;
      -- inclusion of trade in services and investments in GATT
  regulations;
      -- tightening of restrictions on pirating of so-called
  intellectual property such as trademarks, patents and
  copyrights;
      -- new rules to resolve trade disputes among GATT's 92
  member states.
      Earlier, New Zealand sources had said French Foreign Trade
  Minister Michel Noir had pulled out of the informal GATT talks
  for domestic political reasons.
      Cabinet chief Bernard Prauge will lead the French
  delegation.
  

