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| WTO Informal Meeting Opens in Mexico City Amid Street Protests |
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SAT, SEP 01, 2001
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Trade representatives started a two-day informal meeting in Mexico City on Friday, aiming to iron out differences over a proposed new round of global trade talks, amid protests from a dozen anti-globalization militants.
Representatives from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, the European Union (EU), Hong Kong of China, India, Jamaica, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Tanzania, the United States and Uruguay attended the meeting.
The senior trade officials, headed by Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Mike Moore, talked about agricultural, investment, subsidies and anti-dumping regulations, said a source close to Friday's talks.
Officials say the closed-door discussions were aimed at avoiding another fiasco in Doha, Qatar, where the upcoming WTO Summit is set to take place. The WTO's last meeting in Seattle in December 1999 ended in failure because rich and poor nations failed to agree on an agenda for a new round of talks.
Mexican authorities say that since the trade officials attending the closed-door talks in Mexico represent all regions of the globe and major opinions within the WTO, there is a good possibility that they would emerge with a consensus leading to an agreement between all 142 members.
Some countries, including Mexico, want the issue of subsidies to be taken up at a multilateral session on Saturday, but the EU and the United States reject that proposal, sources indicated.
Mexican authorities, concerned about possible protests, did not publicly announce the venue of the talks.
Several hundred policemen in full riot gear blocked access to the immediate vicinity of the hotel. Militants in protest against the meeting tried in vain to deliver a message to WTO chief Mike Moor.
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