HC Deb 10 January 2000 vol 342 c29W
Mr. Denzil Davies

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry who represented Her Majesty's Government at the meeting of the General Council of the WTO held in Geneva on Friday 17 December. [104105]

Mr. Caborn

The Deputy Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom Mission in Geneva attended the meeting of the WTO General Council. However, it is the European Commission that represents and speaks on behalf of the European Union and its member states at meetings of the WTO General Council.

Mr. Denzil Davies

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the minutes of the meeting of the General Council of the WTO held in Geneva on Friday 17 December will be published. [104106]

Mr. Caborn

The minutes will be circulated to WTO members in January. They will be made available to the public by the WTO secretariat eight months after circulation in accordance with a WTO General Council decision dated 26 July 1996. We are pressing in the WTO, through the European Union, for an elimination of the delay between initial circulation and derestriction as part of our broader WTO transparency aims.