*{World business says new trade round urgently needed [http://www.iccwbo.org/home/news_archives/1999/trade_round_urgently_needed.asp]

Paris, 29 November 1999 -} The President of the International Chamber of Commerce, Adnan Kassar, today stressed the urgency of opening a new round of trade negotiations in a statement issued on the eve of the ministerial      conference of the World Trade Organization in Seattle. 

He said: "It is vitally important to the hopes of millions for a better life that the ministerial conference of the WTO continue the beneficial process of opening up world markets started more than 50 years ago and carried forward over eight successive negotiating rounds."

Mr Kassar said recent disputes involving the three great trading groups of the United States, the European Union and Japan underlined "the paramount importance" of defending the authority of the WTO as a body formed by    governments of their own free will and endowed with legal powers to settle differences between them.

The President of the world business organization, which has a membership of thousands of companies and business associations in 138 countries, added: "Avoidance of unilateral and extraterritorial measures and respect for WTO rules are essential foundations for the further liberalization of world trade." 

It was to be hoped that the governments meeting in Seattle would resist giving in to pressure groups that want trade measures to be used to enforce environmental and labour standards. "To say this is not to downplay these issues, but simply to insist that they should be tackled in a way that does not jeopardize the multilateral trading system." 

Mr Kassar said: "Ultimately, the surest means of advancing labour standards will be sound economic development based on the full participation of all countries in the multilateral trading system. To sanction offending countries by excluding them from trade would have the opposite effect." 

The same was true of environmental protection, he added. "The more prosperous a country is and the more modern its industry, the greater its capacity to use environmentally-friendly technologies." 

The ICC President pointed out that the movement to keep trade negotiations separate from environmental or labour policies is not confined to business but is supported by the overwhelming majority of the 135 WTO governments, and in particular the developing countries. 

*{News archives 1999
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