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THIS week's Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Singapore, is likely to lead to further cautious moves …

THIS week's Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Singapore, is likely to lead to further cautious moves towards the liberalisation of world trade, according to the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Mr Kenny, who is representing the EU's interests together with Sir Leon Brittan at the conference, believes the meeting is likely to be more of a review of progress than a ground breaking event.

The meetings, which run until Friday, are the first formal gathering since the World Trade Organisation was established last year to replace the GATT organisation. Mr Kenny has warned, however, that it was important to be realistic about what could be achieved.

"Aspirations for Singapore are deliberately not set that high. This is the first meeting following Marrakesh (the meeting where the GATT Uruguay Round was finally ratified) so therefore it is unknown territory in many ways," said Mr Kenny, in an interview with The Irish Times.

Ahead of the meetings, the 5,000 participants were sharply divided on what they should be focusing on. "The opinion has been divided on whether you concentrate exclusively on a review of events since the Uruguay Round was signed or whether you look to the future liberalisation of the market. It is likely to be something in between," Mr Kenny said.

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The ministers will be presented with a factual report assessing the Uruguay Round Agreements and the WTO itself, which will form the basis for a critical assessment of whether these efforts have been worthwhile.

Created out of the Uruguay Round, the WTO now oversees agreements covering trade in agriculture and services, as well as intellectual property and investment issues.

It was also given a much strengthened system for dealing with trade disputes between member states.

"It is accepted that there is some scope for improvement in the implementation of certain aspects of the Uruguay Round agreements, and this will be noted by ministers," he said.

Advancing negotiations on telecommunications and financial services is also on the agenda, as is the establishment of a work programme for the WTO for the next two years, based largely on commitments to further negotiations agreed during the Uruguay Round.

In terms of further efforts to liberalise world trade, the WTO will be specifically concentrating on freeing up the movement of information technology products. It may approve some cautious exploration of a possible future rule making role for the WTO in areas of investment and competition, Mr Kenny said.

"There will be an attempt to do something for the least developed countries, possible endorsing some type of plan of action which will offer more in the area of technical assistance. It may also hold out the prospect of a special arrangement under which they could be offered improved non reciprocal access to the markets of other states," the Minister said.

There was little chance however, he conceded, that any meaningful progress would be made on establishing internationally recognised basic labour standards to be introduced throughout the world. The proposal has proved to be one of the most divisive issues, with the EU and states outside of the OECD taking opposing views on its merits.

"It is likely that the Singapore Declaration issued by ministers will mention the importance of core labour standards and of the work of the International Labour Organisation in promoting them but will not call for any follow up within the WTO," he said.