Officials to discuss WTO

Officials to discuss WTO

JAKARTA (JP): Senior officials from the United Nations
Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
will gather here tomorrow for a three-day meeting to discuss
preparations for the upcoming World Trade Organization (WTO)
meeting in Singapore.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday that the
Jakarta meeting, which will prepare materials for the WTO's first
ministerial meeting in December, will focus on issues brought up
by ministers from the WTO's member countries.

According to the ministry's statement, the Jakarta meeting is
being organized by the Indonesian government in cooperation with
ESCAP, the United Nations for Development Program and the United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Indonesia expressed its hope that the WTO could play an
important role in reducing unilateral actions. The WTO requires
member countries to adjust their regulations to its principles
and mechanism for solving trade conflicts through multilateral
arrangements.

"We expect that the WTO will become an effective international
organization in managing and supervising world trade
liberalization," said the statement. (13)