Lin Yi-fu plans bilateral talks at WTO

Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) will hold bilateral consultations with his counterparts from various countries during the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference, a high-ranking ROC trade official said Tuesday.

Huang Chih-peng (黃志鵬), director-general of the Board of Foreign Trade and spokesman for the Taiwan delegation to the conference, said Lin will meet with ministers from Mexico, New Zealand, Russia and Central American diplomatic allies, while meetings with his counterparts from the US, China and the EU are also being arranged.

The upcoming WTO conference was scheduled to be held in Cancun, Mexico from yesterday until Sept. 14. Ministers from Taiwan and 145 other WTO members have gathered here to assess the current status of multilateral trade liberalization talks, launched in Doha two years ago, and to adopt measures to get them off dead center.

For its part, Taiwan will make another donation to the WTO's Global Fund this year and adopt "zero tariff" treatment on imports of certain products from the least-developed countries, Huang said.

Other aspects Taiwan proposed to talk with other WTO members in Cancun include market access to service sectors, environmental protection, dispute settlement, as well as trade rules regarding foreign investment, competition and government procurement.