Morocco proposes ministerial conference on agricultural negotiations

Morocco on Wednesday proposed the holding next June of a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), exclusively devoted to multilateral agricultural negotiations, part of the Doha Cycle.

Morocco made the proposal at the annual ministerial Organisation of the Conference for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCECD), held in Paris.

Such a conference would help alleviate the schedule of the 5th WTO ministerial conference, due to be held next September in Cancun, Mexico, and to move ahead towards the construction of tomorrow's multilateral commercial system, Moroccan external trade minister, Mustapha Mechahouri, told the meeting.

Morocco was attending the OCECD conference in its capacity as acting chairman of the Group of 77 (G-77) plus China.

Mechahouri urged the international community to act rapidly and give a new boost to the Doha process through adopting constructive recommendations, particularly regarding intellectual property, access to medication and proposing solutions to crucial problems facing developing countries, including those of investments.

The World community should start with sending positive signals, beginning from the G-8 summit, due next June in Evian (France), a summit that should make a clear answer to the problems of access to medication and of agriculture, the official said.

The Moroccan delegate deplored that capital drained by developing countries is short of meeting the requirements of accelerated growth.

Touching on the pitfalls of the Doha Cycle, Mechahouri regretted that a year and half after the Doha conference the results are meagre, as the time-table set at this conference was not respected.

Major development issues on the Doha Agenda, including the implementation of the declaration on intellectual property and public health have not been settled yet, he said, adding that Morocco had repeatedly warned, on behalf of African countries, against the potential failure of the projected Cancun conference to credibly answer key development issues.

All WTO member countries should constructively participate in the liberalization of exchanges based on equity, said Mechahouri.