Trade chief pledges to work for poor

The new director general of the World Trade Organisation, Mr Mike Moore, pledged yesterday to shift the balance of trade toward the needs of poor nations and said members should not be put off by claims that globalisation leads to social and economic instability.

Mr Moore, a former prime minister of New Zealand, set out three duties - to achieve a "balanced" outcome from trade negotiations to benefit the most vulnerable, to advocate the benefits of free trade and to strengthen international trading rules.

"We have to make the case as strongly as we can that the progress at Seattle [new trade negotiations] is based upon raising the living standards of people everywhere, that more open economies tend to deliver better living standards - and from these better living standards come better health and education systems and a greater level of civil participation," he said.

Appealing to big economies to open their markets to developing countries, and thus bring about a shift in the balance of trade, Mr Moore added: "The world was once polarised by a cold war; it is now becoming polarised between wealth and lack of opportunity."

WTO proposals can only be adopted by a unanimous vote of all 134 member states, and the director general's task in Seattle is to seek a compromise on controversial trade issues including agriculture, services, textiles, health and the environment, social standards and electronic commerce.

Mr Moore, who is a former trade unionist, acknowledged the "legitimate and genuine" concerns regarding the effects of globalisation, but indicated that protests about the impact of international free trade on the environment, health, and employment were at odds with his overall priority.

They smacked of protectionism, he insisted. The US is pressing the WTO to consider minimum labour standards which is fiercely opposed by developing countries. Mr Moore said he was prepared to reshape the WTO after Seattle "to look like the world it represents".