Fed: Protests won t stop trade talks Vaile

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-1999
Fed: Protests won t stop trade talks Vaile

Trade Minister MARK VAILE says protests that delayed the opening session of world trade
talks in Seattle won't derail the process.

Trade ministers from 135 World Trade Organisation member countries are in the US city
of Seattle, to set the agenda for a new round of talks to lower trade barriers worldwide.

Thousands of protesters, angry about globalisation, have clashed with police and disrupted
the first day of WTO talks.

He says he expects an agreement on the future of trade talks by the end of the week.

Prime Minister John Howard last night criticised the demonstrators, saying the disruption
would only hurt poor countries.

Mr HOWARD said he could not imagine less well-directed, less intelligent demonstrations
than those that had taken place in Seattle.

And, Foreign Minister ALEXANDER DOWNER has likened the protesters to the Luddite movement
in England in the early 19th century, when workers afraid of technology destroyed manufacturing
equipment they believed was destroying jobs.

AAP RTV daw/wz/as

KEYWORD: WTO AUST (CANBERRA)

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