Brasília, 9/19/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, declined to comment on remarks made by United States deputy secretary of State, Roger Noriega, to the effect that Brazil was responsible for the failure of the V Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization in Cancun, Mexico, last week. Pointing out that Noriega is a low-ranking official, Amorim said he would have talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell next week at the United Nations. The meeting with Powell is a scheduled part of the trip to the US by president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the opening of the UN General Assembly. Amorim said that he and Powell would discuss "everything that needs to be discussed."

In testimony at the Senate Foreign Relations Commission yesterday, Amorim declared that Brazil is preparing for the World Trade Organization meeting in November in Geneva and that the lack of concrete results in Cancun did not mean the end of the WTO as a forum for negotiations. Amorim said that as far as Brazil was concerned, the WTO remains a fundamental element in the negotiating process for developing nations. "Even with all the difficulties, it is better to have the WTO present," said the minister.

Amorim told the commission that negotiations were underway with India and South Africa, and would soon begin with China, on trade agreements with those nations and Mercosur. (AB)