UN official hails World Trade Organization agreement on new round of trade talks

The head of the United Nations trade and development agency today welcomed the adoption by the just-concluded World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Qatar of an agreement to launch a new round of talks on global commerce, a UN spokesman in New York said today.

According to the spokesman, Rubens Ricupero, the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), especially welcomed a separate declaration in which the WTO affirmed that nothing in the agreement on intellectual property rights should prevent developing countries from taking measures to protect public health.

"The UN system worked closely with WTO to raise awareness of this public health issue," the spokesman said, which Mr. Ricupero called an "outstanding achievement" for the WTO and the world.