§ Mr. BrowneTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, pursuant to his statement to the House on 9 December 1999,Official Report, column 1024, on the World Trade Organisation, what steps the Director General of the World Trade Organisation has taken to achieve the objective of a five-fold increase in the budget for technical assistance and capacity building for developing countries. [104588]
§ Mr. CabornThe Director General made a plea to all WTO members to increase regular budget funding for technical assistance to which he hoped to secure agreement in Seattle in the context of wider agreement on the launch of the new Round. In the absence of the wider agreement, there is as yet no consensus for enhanced regular budget funding of technical assistance. The UK will pursue this further in the WTO Budget Committee in Geneva and in discussions with EU and other partners.