Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology Joseph Wong has welcomed a statement by the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade on the Doha Development Agenda.

The statement reaffirmed the strong commitment of member economies to work towards a successful conclusion of the round by year's-end, according to a government press release on Friday.

Wong said the statement points to the need to agree on the modalities in agriculture and non-agricultural market access by the end of June, which is critical to move the Doha round forward.

At the APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade session, Hong Kong indicated its keen interest in the negotiations in the Services and Rules areas.

"On Services, we are ready to follow the agreement at the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference last year and will put forward our improved offer by the end of July. We hope our trading partners will do the same," Wong said.

"On Rules, in particular anti-dumping, we will continue to negotiate in earnest and agreed to improve the current rules so they will facilitate rather than frustrate trade and that whatever benefits arising from improvements to market access will be fully realized," he added.

Wong pledged Hong Kong will play a constructive role in the negotiations and that it and other economies will stand to benefit significantly from a successful conclusion of the round.

Source: Xinhua