RI wants short WTO round

RI wants short WTO round

HAMBURG (Reuters): The forthcoming round of world trade talks
should not exceed three years and should exclude non-trade
related issues, Indonesia's Trade and Industry Minister Rahardi
Ramelan said on Friday.

Ramelan, heading a commodities delegation on a German visit,
said his comments reflected views held in many developing
countries.

"We don't want to discuss non-trade related issues such as
labor or the environment," he said at a panel discussion of the
German-Asia-Pacific Business Association.

"The round should be short...a maximum of three years," he
said, adding the seven-year Uruguay round had dragged on too
long.

Ramelan had attended meetings of ministers from developing
countries of the G-77 group in Morocco earlier last week.

The ministers had discussed economic developments challenging
their countries in the third millennium, one of which had been
food security, he said.

Their agenda would be taken to the Seattle gathering of WTO
member countries' trade ministers, which will kick off the
millennium round of WTO negotiations on Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.