MT4/96
Media Release
9 January 1996
World Trade Leaders to Attend Brisbane Conference
A major conference on future directions for the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) in Brisbane in February has attracted a number of the world's key
trade figures and is set to be one of the most influential world trade events
for 1996, the Minister for Trade, Senator Bob McMullan, said today.
Senator McMullan said Mr Yeo Cheow Tong, the Singapore Minister for Trade
and Industry, and Mr Renato Ruggiero, Director General of the WTO, head
a guest list which features academics, officials and senior representatives
from ASEAN, the OECD, UNCTAD, the World Economic Forum, the World Bank,
the IMF, and around twenty major trading nations including Australia.
"This is an important year for the multilateral trading system,"
Senator McMullan said.
"The aim of the conference is to bring together the world's leading
trade policy thinkers and practitioners to identify the shape of the new
multilateral trade agenda and develop ways to move it forward.
"It is one of the last opportunities for such a large number of world
trade figures to gather in preparation for the inaugural WTO Ministerial
Review Conference in Singapore in December.
"Hosting the Brisbane conference will give Australian participants
a chance discuss with the international delegates ways to progress the multilateral
trade agenda, and to examine how business has been affected by developments
in the multilateral trading system post-GATT.
"Having played a significant role in the Uruguay Round as leader of
the Cairns Group, Australia will continue to be active in the international
trade discussions in Brisbane and Singapore," Senator McMullan said.
An initiative of the Government's Winning Markets policy, the conference
is being organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Committee
for the Economic Development of Australia, and the Queensland Government,
and will be held in Brisbane from 21-23 February 1996.
Further information: John Flannery, (06) 277 7420
Bob McMullan Minister for Trade
Parliament House, Canberra, ACT 2600 Tel: (06) 277 7420 Fax: (06) 273 4128