30 states partake in Sharm el Sheikh conference to prepare for WTO ministerial meeting in Mexico

Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali is attaching great importance to the World Trade Organization (WTO) informal ministerial meeting to be held in the Red Sea retreat of Sharm el Sheikh on June 21-22, which will be attended by 30 world trade ministers, within the preparations for the fifth WTO ministerial meeting slated for late September in Cancun, Mexico.

Addressing a symposium organized Monday by Egypt International Economic Forum to acquaint the Egyptian businessmen with the WTO agreements, Ghali said that the Sharm el Sheikh consultative meeting is the last chance to bring viewpoints closer between countries at odds over the issues forwarded to the 5th ministerial conference.

"Among the bones of contention will be the agricultural file, the toughest one due to clashing views over the issue of subsidy to exported agricultural commodities, in addition to the issues of service and non-agricultural (industrial) trade, investment, competitiveness and intellectual property," said Ghali.

Ghali said that the agricultural file is of paramount importance for the developing nations, particularly Egypt, considering that this sector highly contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If advanced-nations, namely the European Union (EU), liberalized agricultural commodities trade, Egypt would become the biggest exporter of agro-products to the European market, said Ghali, referring to Egypt's efforts at the Doha WTO conference and the ministerial meetings on provision of medicine for the poor nations.