From an ICC Press Release
Paris, 26 April 2000 - World Trade Organisation Director-General Mike Moore is expected to use a major congress of world business leaders next week to sound a rallying cry for the WTO and give his assessment on the outlook for China's accession to the WTO.
Fresh from a meeting of the WTO General Council, Mr Moore will make a keynote address at the International Chamber of Commerce's World Congress in Budapest (May 3-5).
Using this forum of international business and political leaders, Mr Moore is expected to not only set out the framework for getting the WTO's globalisation agenda back on track, but also examine the progress of China's application to join the WTO.
Responding to criticism from anti-globalisation forces - and buoyed by what is expected to be a successful WTO world council meeting - Moore will furthermore outline new WTO projects to assist the world's least developed nations.
Mr Moore will be among an impressive line-up of the world's business and political leaders who will be gathering in Budapest for the ICC's World Congress.
Also at the Congress:
* UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will deliver an address on the mutual aims of world business and the UN
* Delegations of business leaders from Cuba and Russia who will seek permission to create ICC national committees in their countries, thus joining more than 70,000 member companies from more than 130 countries around the world.
* The Prime Ministers of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic who will state the case for their country's accession to the EU
The congress will also feature agenda-setting sessions on e-commerce, globalisation and European enlargement, as well as provide a forum for such leading academics as Jagdish Bhagwati, Jeffrey Sachs and David Hale to offer their insights on the state of the world economy.
For further information on the ICC World Congress, or to organise media accreditation, contact the ICC Communications Department in Paris: (33 1) 49 53 29 87.:
