EU TRADE MINISTERS have said plans for the further liberalisation of world trade must be linked to economic growth and job creation.
After their informal meeting in Dublin yesterday, the 15 EU ministers stressed that free market policies must seek to provide benefits for European economies.
The Ministers have agreed to concentrate on consolidating existing trade agreements at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial conference in Singapore next December.
"We need to focus our attention on an agenda on which there is already agreement," the Minister for Tourism and Trade, Mr Kenny, said after the meeting.
In a statement, the ministers said they were now entering a very important phase in the preparations for the December meeting in the context of the political dimension of what is to be achieved, particularly in relation to the potential for job creation.
At the informal meeting, the ministers said they were committed to the full and timely implementation of the Uruguay round of GATT and a better integration of environmental concerns into the WTO rules. They added that discussions on trade and labour standards would continue within the Union framework.
Ministers have assured WTO director-general, Mr Renato Ruggiero, of their co-operation in order to achieve an "ambitious and realistic" outcome at the Singapore conference.
They have also stressed that they share Mr Ruggiero's views that they should use the conference to send a strong political message of unity among the industrial and developing states.
The ministers have urged European Commission vice-president, Sir Leon Brittan, to press ahead with efforts to open up international markets.
Meanwhile, Sir Leon has warned that European states must improve their offer to open up the telecommunications market if the February, 1997, deadline for concluding a global liberalisation accord is to be met. Such a move, he said yesterday, would jump-start stalled negotiations.
Sir Leon said he was prepared to come up with a new European offer to try to rekindle interest in a global agreement on telecommunications. Negotiations for an agreement have been stalled because of dissatisfaction at offers from Europe and Japan to open their markets to US products.
