WASHINGTON - United States Trade Representative Robert B. Zoellick will attend an informal meeting of trade ministers in Singapore this weekend before traveling to Malaysia and the APEC Summit in Shanghai. The meetings continue the step-by-step preparations for the Fourth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial to be held this November.
At the meeting in Singapore the twenty-two trade ministers will continue the consideration of the two proposals released by WTO General Council Chairman Stuart Harbinson on September 26.
Ambassador Zoellick has called the two proposals -- an agenda for a new round and a proposal on implementing Uruguay Round disciplines -- "important milestones on the road" to the launch of a new round of trade liberalization.
"We intend to take advantage of every opportunity to work constructively with other WTO members to craft these proposals into an acceptable agenda for all," said Zoellick. "In Singapore, the U.S. will be particularly concerned with achieving progress on market access, transparency and trade facilitation. We plan to work constructively with others to achieve a mutually beneficial approach.
The choice of Singapore as the site of the informal WTO meeting reflects the key role Asian countries play in the WTO, an importance that will increase with the accession of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan at the next WTO Ministerial meeting.