VVD Europarty on-line

Cancún, 15 September 2003

"Failure of WTO talks "bad news for developing countries"

"The failure of the WTO talks in Cancún is deeply disappointing and very bad news for developing countries, which had the most to gain from a successful outcome", said Elly Plooij-Van Gorsel MEP (VVD/Netherlands), the European Liberal Democrat group's spokeswoman in Cancún.

Commenting on the breakdown of the talks, Mrs Plooij said:

“It is now important that we continue the negotiations. The WTO must not yet be declared dead – we must try to breathe new life into the talks. We believe that the multilateral process has much more to offer than bilateral trade treaties. This is especially true for developing countries which are far better protected from undue pressure this way. On the substance, our offer remains on the table, but at the same time we must look at ways of reforming the WTO negotiation procedure in order to avoid such failures in future.”

“The only silver lining in this cloud for me was the Parliamentary conference on the WTO, which took place during the 5th Ministerial meeting. The Parliamentary conference is of vital importance to the WTO, and more than 300 parliamentarians from around the world took part. We were able to agree a final declaration, calling for more transparency and more democracy in the WTO by including a parliamentary pillar in the process.”

For more information please contact:

Stina Soewarta in Cancún: +529981160704
Philip Tod in Brussels: +32 486 44 04 97