| Author (Person) | Thomson, Ian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | 4.12.99 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 28/11/1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) took place in Seattle, United States from 29th November to 3rd December 1999. The aim of the meeting was to lay down the future direction of world trade policy, in particular to agree on an agenda for a new Round of trade negotiations to be called 'The Millennium Round'. Ministers representing the 135 member countries of the WTO attended the meeting. Each Member State of the EU is a member of the WTO. The European Communities as a legal entity is a member in its own right. In addition, a large number of representatives from other organisations also attended, in either an official or unofficial capacity. In the event Ministers failed to agree on an agenda for a future Round, the meeting was suspended and negotiations will continue in 2000 to see if such an agreement can be reached. The complexity and amount of the issues tested the substantive and procedural capacity of the WTO process. The EU has campaigned strongly since 1997 in favour of a New Round of trade negotiations. The EU has four main objectives in supporting a Millennium Round:
(Information taken from European Commission: DG Trade: Why do we need a new round of trade negotiations. EC, 1999 ISBN: 92-828-6484-7 EC No.CN-21-99-505-EN-C) A huge amount of information is available on the web on the background to, and implications of, the Ministerial Meeting in Seattle. Key official sites are: WTO Ministerial Conference Information Pages The text of Press Releases, Speeches and other relevant documents issued by the EU in the period leading up and during the Seattle Meeting can be found on the DG Trade Millennium Round pages. The key sources are provided below: The European Commission's Directorate General for Agriculture launched pages during early December 1999 called 'EU Agriculture and the WTO', which brings together many of the official and background texts and speeches relating to the agricultural dimension of the WTO process. Just prior to the Ministerial Meeting the European Commission Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs issued a technical paper called 'The Millennium Round: An economic appraisal' (Economic Papers, No.139, November 1999). This paper combines both qualitative and quantitative economic analysis to show that further multilateral trade liberalisation through a WTO trade round could yield significant benefits for the global economy, in the author's opinion. Further information on the EU, world trade and the WTO is presented at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade's site on the WTO, which provides an overview of the EU position in world trade, plus statistics, legislation and the text of relevant reports. The site for the European Commission's Directorate-General for Trade provides much background information on the importance of world trade to the EU. An excellent concise description of the legal basis and objectives of EU policies in the WTO can be seen in the European Parliament's Fact Sheets: http://europarl.europa.eu/dg4/factsheets/en/6_2_2.htm, while the Fact Sheets also provide a more general description of the EU and its role as a trade power: http://europarl.europa.eu/dg4/factsheets/en/6_2_1.htm Non-EU and non-WTO sites In addition to sites provided by the EU and the WTO there are a mass of further information sources on the issues being discussed at the Ministerial Meeting and the possible Millennium Round. The US Government had a special WTO Ministerial Meeting website. The Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industry in France also have a WTO 2000 site (in French). The Australian Government's WTO site is also worth investigating. Many NGOs and pressure groups critical of aspects of the work of the WTO are a fruitful source of information. Examples include:
Further information within European Sources Online
Ian Thomson The Third Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) took place in Seattle, United States from 29 Nov - 3 Dec 1999 with the main aim an agreement on the agenda for a new round of trade negotiations to be called 'The Millennium Round'. |
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| Subject Categories | Trade | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
