10:27 AM Mar 5, 1996

INFORMAL PREPARATORY PROCESS FOR SINGAPORE

Geneva 5 Mar (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- Informal preparatory meetings of all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO), under the chairmanship of the WTO Director-General, Mr. Renato Ruggiero, in his personal capacity, is being set up for members to "exchange views" on the preparations, both substantive and organizational, for the Singapore Ministerial meeting of the WTO in December.

This was agreed to Tuesday at an heads of delegations meeting of the WTO General Council chaired by, Amb. William Rossier of Switzerland, the chairman of the Council.

The meeting had some exchange of views on the procedures and structures of the preparatory process and agreed on the proposals put forward by Rossier.

There have been some differences among members whether there was any need for a separate informal process or it should be handled by the WTO General Council as is the intention of the WTO agreement.

The agreement Tuesday would have Ruggiero, in carrying out his work of chair of the informal meeting, to act in close cooperation and coordination with the General Council chair and, in all matters relating to the organization of the Singapore meeting, with the head of the Singapore mission.

Ruggiero is also to submit progress reports to the General Council from time to time, and the General Council is to act on these reports as necessary.

Though no one appears to have raised or mentioned it at the Tuesday meeting, the fact that Ruggiero has been going around the world and pronouncing himself on various controversial issues, and promoting some new agenda items, have raised some disquiet among the membership, some of whom, feel that the members should keep the process completely under their own control and through the WTO General Council.

The Australian delegate Tuesday reported, as he put it, for transparency reasons, the outcome of that meeting -- calling for review of the implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, the further negotiations in services, accelerated tariff cuts so as to eliminate all tariffs, the trade and environment questions, and the new trade agenda issues of investment and competition.

There has been much dissatisfaction that questions about what Singapore meet should do and the priorities there were being discussed and a climate built up for it through informal meetings outside of the WTO (and Geneva) in meetings of small groups of countries, the latest being the one at Brisbane in Australia last month. But such comments heard from delegates outside was not reflected apparently at the Tuesday meeting.