BRIDGES Daily Update on the Fifth Ministerial Conference - Special Update 14 September, 2003
Shortly before 18:00 Cancun time, Mexican Trade Minister Luis
Ernesto Derbez formally closed the Fifth Session of the WTO Ministerial
Conference, without agreement on a Ministerial Text. The meeting had collapsed in mid-afternoon over ongoing deep
divisions among Members, particularly over whether and how to launch
negotiations on the 'Singapore' issues of investment, competition, transparency
in government procurement and trade facilitation.
According to a one-page Ministerial Statement
(available online at http://www.ictsd.org/),
which was the only official document to emerge from the Conference, a meeting
of the WTO General Council at Senior Officials level will be convened no later
than 15 December 2003 "to take the action necessary at that stage to
enable us to move towards a successful and timely conclusion of the
negotiations."
Bridges will shortly provide a more
detailed report on the day's proceedings.
ICTSD BRIDGES DAILY UPDATE is a daily
news service covering trade and sustainable development on the occasion of the
Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico. The publication focuses on
news, activities and negotiations around the Ministerial from 10 to 14 September
as they relate to sustainable development issue-areas. BRIDGES Daily Update is
produced in Cancun by ICTSD staff under the direction of Ricardo
Meléndez-Ortiz. Other language editions are produced in collaboration with FFLA
& CINPE (Spanish); ENDA-tiers-monde (French), Germanwatch (German); FGV
& OIKOS (Portugese); ICTSD (Chinese); and Eco-Accord (Russian). For further
information contact ICTSD at: 13, ch. des Anémones, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland;
tel: (41-22) 917-8492; fax: 917-8093; email: ictsd@ictsd.ch;
web: http://www.ictsd.org.
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