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The SMC should review the unfinished business of the Uraguay Round i.e. the four extended track of service negotiations of financial services, movement of natural persons, basic telecommunications and maritime transport;

Ministers should review the report of the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and to decide on the future programme for the work of the CTE on trade and environment;

The SMC should take a decision on which of the new issues (e.g. investment, competition) are mature for negotiations within the WTO; and

Ministers should decide on the programme for further liberalisation by way of, for example, tariff reductions, acceleration of UR commitments and breaking down of trade and non-trade-related barriers.

"Bearing this in mind, our forthcoming Trade Liberalisation Seminar will provide a golden opportunity for government officials, people in the business sector and academics to exchange views on their expectations for the SMC and the future WTO agenda," Mr Tam said.

The half-day seminar will in the main comprise three sessions to focus discussions on the traditional GATT issues, the UR-introduced issues and new issues, followed by a round-up session by the Director-General of Trade, Mr Tony Miller.

Speakers at the first session will be Managing Director, Fang Brothers Knitting Limited, Mr Kenneth Fang, and the Government's legal consultant in Europe, Mr Jean Francois Bellis. They will speak on textiles and clothing, and anti-dumping respectively.

The second session will feature four speakers. Chairman of Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries, Mr Brian Stevenson, and Representative of US Coalition of Service Industries Inc, Mr Charlie Heeter, will address issues relating to trade in services. Two other speakers, Senior Partner of Robert WH Wang and Co, Ms Anna Wu, and Director, Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, University of Hong Kong, Professor Peter Hills, will focus on intellectual property rights and trade and the environment.

Talks by Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Consumer Council, Mrs Pamela Chan, on trade and competition, and by Managing Director of Hopewell Holdings Ltd, Mr Gordon Wu, on trade and investment will be featured in the third session.

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