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UN urges WTO talks not to overlook environment |
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| KENYA: November 9, 2001 | ||
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NAIROBI - The United Nations yesterday urged ministers meeting at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Doha this week not to forget the environment as they grapple over the rules of global trade.
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The WTO's 142 member states are due to meet in the Qatari capital for a major conference from November 9-13 where the industrialised world hopes to gain agreement on launching a new round of negotiations to break down trade barriers. The Nairobi-based United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said environmental concerns should not be drowned out at complex talks that will address issues from trade in grain and steel to labour laws and drugs patents. "It is important for all actors in the global trade talks to recognise that we must design new policies which successfully combine the efficiency and income generating opportunities of trade with effective protection of the environment," UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer said in a statement. The European Union wants to begin talks at the WTO on linking the rules governing global trade to environmental standards, but it is almost isolated on the issue. Developing countries are fiercely opposed to introducing environmental rules into trade conventions, saying such regulations would simply provide a cover for the industrialised world to keep out cheap goods made in poor countries.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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