| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: Tita Freeman |
| October 14, 2005 |
(202) 496-3269 |
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - World Business Leaders for Growth,
an organization made up of six of the world's leading business
advocacy organizations, today called upon all World Trade
Organization governments to commit to securing the conditions
for a successful Hong Kong Ministerial meeting and, ultimately,
a successful Doha Round outcome. The call was made by member
chief executive officers who traveled to Geneva for a series
of meetings with leading trade negotiators and ambassadors,
including WTO Director General Pascal Lamy.
"The Doha negotiations have gained significant momentum
this week in Geneva with important new proposals now on the
table. At long last, we believe a breakthrough is now possible,"
said Harold McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill
Companies and Chairman, Business Roundtable International
Trade and Investment Task Force. "We urge all the WTO members
to intensify their efforts and show real progress in the eight
weeks remaining before the Hong Kong Ministerial."
World Business Leaders for Growth includes the following
CEO-level organizations:
- Business Council of Australia
- Business Roundtable (United States)
- Canadian Council of Chief Executives
- Consejo Mexicano de Hombres de Negocios (Mexico)
- The European Round Table of Industrialists
- Nippon Keidanren (Japan)
The group kicked off its partnership in September with the
release of a call-to-action in the form of a policy paper:
Advancing the Promise of Doha. The paper outlines recommendations
for progress in negotiations on agriculture, industrial goods,
services and trade facilitation, while highlighting the critical
importance that trade liberalization has had on the global
economy:
The success and the benefits of the WTO's multilateral
trading system have been recognized around the world. The
WTO has grown from 23 GATT Contracting Parties in 1947 to
148 Members in 2005. The success of the past 8 rounds of multilateral
negotiations has helped world trade grow from USD 80 billion
in 1947 to USD 9 trillion today.
"Now is the time when business sectors throughout the world
should be united and extend a strong and clear message to
all WTO Members calling for substantial progress in the Doha
Development Agenda," concluded Yoshiro Kuwata, Chairman, Hitachi
High-Technologies Corporation, and Chairman of the Policy
Subcommittee of Nippon Keidanren's Committee on Trade & Investment.
In addition to its Geneva meetings, members of World
Business Leaders for Growth have already met with leading
officials in Washington, D.C., where they held a discussion
with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, and are planning a
strong presence in Hong Kong during the December Ministerial
meeting.
The World Business Leaders for Growth effort has been
endorsed by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), which
strongly supports the CEO-led initiative to help get the Doha
Round back on track.
# # #
World Business Leaders for Growth is an international
CEO-level organization formed to advocate for policies that
promote sustained economic growth. The group was founded in
September 2005, and includes the following organizations:
Business Council of Australia, Business Roundtable (United
States), Canadian Council of Chief Executives, Consejo Mexicano
de Hombres de Negocios (Mexico), The European Round Table
of Industrialists, and Nippon Keidanren (Japan).
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