Morocco calls WTO to heed developing nations' concerns in future multilateral negotiations

Morocco on Wednesday called the World Trade Organization (WTO) to heed the concerns of developing nations in the future multilateral negotiations.

The call was made by the Moroccan industry, trade and handicraft minister, Alami Tazi, in a speech before the WTO third ministerial conference, currently being held in the northwestern US city of Seattle.

The WTO should take into account the concerns of developing nations, contained in the Marrakesh Declaration, which crowned the GATT conference, held in 1994 in this Moroccan southern city, Tazi said.

The tangible growth recorded as a result of the Uruguay round were not fairly shared by all the WTO member countries, he said, adding that global economic integration is not within reach yet.

The minister insisted that the upcoming negotiations on agriculture should correct the imperfections of the World trade of agricultural produce. Such imperfections are due to practices violating the WTO basic principles, he said.

The coming negotiations should pave the way for more active participation of the developing nations, as recommended by the ministerial conference of the Group of 77 plus China, held last September in Morocco, Tazi said,

On the fringes of the WTO conference, the Moroccan minister attended a meeting, sponsored by the Islamic Development Bank, for the coordination of Islamic nations' positions.

A delegation of Moroccan private firms is also in Seattle, where they participated in a symposium on multilateral trade in the 21st century.