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Published: Friday November 27, 2009 MYT 1:06:00 PM

Mustapha to attend WTO ministerial meeting


KUALA LUMPUR: International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed will attend the Seventh World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference next week, which will discuss progress of the Doha Round.

To be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from Nov 30 to Dec 2, the conference will also review the WTO's activities, with the aim of strengthening the organisation's functions and its contribution to world recovery, growth and development.

The theme is "The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment".

Malaysia has participated actively in all the WTO activities and negotiations in order to safeguard the country's interest while at the same time ensuring that the global trading environment remains open, transparent and predictable, said the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).

"The conclusion of the Doha Round is important to Malaysia as it would provide greater certainty and transparency through improved rules and disciplines," it said in a statement on Friday.

"There would also be immediate benefits, through greater market access opportunities for goods and services as a result of reduction of tariffs and other barriers."

Taking advantage of the presence of ministers at this conference, various informal meetings will be held to discuss ways to make progress in the Doha Round of negotiations, MITI said.

The Cairns Group, representing key agriculture exporting countries, including Malaysia, will hold an informal ministerial meeting on Nov 30.

"This meeting is expected to deliberate on the way forward in concluding negotiations next year as well as translating the political declarations into tangible outcomes," the ministry said.

Malaysia will be signing a joint declaration on economic cooperation with Hong Kong on Dec 1, which will see the two countries actively promoting bilateral trade and economic cooperation, MITI said.

Besides that, Mustapa will also meet with member countries from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to exchange views and deliberate on building capacity and technical assistance programmes for OIC members.

The last WTO ministerial conference was held in Hong Kong in 2005. - Bernama

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