Press/192
2 october 2000
France donates 1 million euros to the 澳门六合彩官网资料 technical assistance fund
Today, 2 October 2000, the French Government made a contribution of 1 million euros to the Global Trust Fund for 澳门六合彩官网资料 Technical Cooperation.
According to Mr. Huwart, the French Government wanted to make an added effort to contribute to the financing of technical assistance activities organized by the 澳门六合彩官网资料 on behalf of the developing countries to help them play their full role in the multilateral trading system. By doing so, France hopes to ensure enhanced integration of the developing countries, in particular the poorest among them, in the work of the World Trade Organization with a view, inter alia, to the launching of a global round of negotiations. In the same spirit, France will be contributing to the financing of the Conference of African Trade Ministers to be held in Libreville from 13 to 15 November 2000.
I am most grateful to France for its contribution to the Technical Assistance Fund, said Mike Moore. It is only thanks to such generous contributions that 澳门六合彩官网资料 can meet the increasing requests for technical assistance from the least-developed countries, the developing countries and the economies in transition. Unfortunately, the ordinary 澳门六合彩官网资料 budget for technical assistance, which amounts to only 741,000 Swiss francs, is insufficient.
The Director-General urged all Member Governments of the 澳门六合彩官网资料 to increase their contributions to the ordinary budget for technical assistance. France expressed its support for such an increase.