NEXT WORLD TRADE NEGOTIATIONS MUST SUCCEED - NZ
Ministers from more than 20
nations were told by New Zealand that the next international
negotiations on liberalising trade would be the last this
century and the cost of failure could not be measured.
    Trade minister Mike Moore told his colleagues at a
welcoming ceremony before two days of talks here that great
progress had been made in preparing for the negotiations which
must not be sidetracked.
    "We live in troubled and dangerous times for the world
trading system," he said.
    "We have seen that the failure of the world trading system
has caused great depression and conflict in the past. Our
failure to maintain the momentum will be at great cost to us
all," Moore said.
    He added: "The cost of failure is beyond calculation. It is
our last hope and best opportunity this century. We will not
get another chance before the year 2000."
    The ministers are in New Zealand to review world trade
since the "Uruguay round" talks last Sepember. The meeting is
also part of preparations for a full-scale conference of the
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in Venice in
June.
    The Uruguay meeting is considered by most countries to have
been particularly successful, with northern hemisphere
countries managing to have service industries such as banking
and insurance included in the next full round.
    The southerners' goal of including agricultural and
tropical products also was met.
    The meeting at this North Island tourist resort is
described by participants as informal and no declaration is
expected.
    Moore said one aim was to "instil a sense of political
urgency to avert potential economic tragedy."
    Another was to seek ways of popularising freer trade to
people who felt the pain of readjustment but could not see the
benefits, as well as preventing "bush fires of confrontation
while we proceed with orderly negotiations."
    The meeting is being attended by 25 overseas delegations
including representatives of GATT and the Economic Community.
    The delegates include U.S. Trade Representative Clayton
Yeutter.
    American sources say he is ready to state that the best way
to reverse protectionist sentiment in the United States is to
implement four key Uruguay proposals:
    -- an end to agricultural subsidies;
    -- inclusion of trade in services and investments in GATT
regulations;
    -- tightening of restrictions on pirating of so-called
intellectual property such as trademarks, patents and
copyrights;
    -- new rules to resolve trade disputes among GATT's 92
member states.
    Earlier, New Zealand sources had said French Foreign Trade
Minister Michel Noir had pulled out of the informal GATT talks
for domestic political reasons.
    Cabinet chief Bernard Prauge will lead the French
delegation.
 REUTER
