World-class event: The Sixth Ministerial Conference is scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18 this year.

Hong Kong, as a free trader and an active and constructive member of the World Trade Organisation, is in a good position to convince other members to reduce their trade barriers, Director-General of Trade & Industry Raymond Young says.

In organising the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC6), Hong Kong will play this role more intensively as the Conference chair, he added.

Since Hong Kong does not have too much vested interest, he said, we are able to perform a useful go-between role among different blocs in the organisation.

"We particularly lead the world in the WTO in a sense that we have high moral grounds as a free trade economy," he said.

"By hosting the MC6, we will be able to demonstrate our commitment to WTO."

Mr Young pointed out that hosting such a big event in Hong Kong, with such international exposure, will help promote Hong Kong's image as an international city that thrives on trade.

"We are a very open economy, we will showcase our ability to host a world-class event. We will showcase our excellent cultural facilities, even our very attractive tourist spots in Hong Kong, as a shopping and good food paradise," he said.

"In short, it will give us opportunity to showcase Hong Kong as a vibrant world city to the rest of the world."

No 1 challenge: maintaining law and order

Mr Young said the main challenge of hosting the conference will come from the threat that a lot of protesters will be coming to Hong Kong to make their views known in respect of anti-globalisation and anti-trade liberalisation.

"They will be coming in the thousands or tens of thousands, so it would be a challenge for our Police force, our law and order enforcement people, to maintain good law and order in Hong Kong and to keep the disruption to, say, our traffic, community, commercial activities, to a minimum."

There will inevitably be some disruption to the daily life of Hong Kong people, to the transport system and even to daily business activities in Hong Kong, he said.

"I am quite sure our police and all the other law-enforcement agencies, all government departments, bureaux, will be doing their best to keep the disruption to a minimum."

Preparations in full swing

Mr Young said preparation work for the conference is now in full swing since the MC6 Coordination Office was set up last October.

He said the office has begun operating staffed by about 50 people, but as the meeting draws nearer, the number of staff will increase substantially.

Staff from departments and bureaux will be standing in as temporary workers to do the preparation work.

5,000 hotel rooms needed

"We will be recruiting a lot of temporary workers, we need a lot of helpers, say from universities, to act as liaison officers to take our ministers around.

"Also we need a lot of people who can speak French and Spanish, because Spanish, English and French are three official languages in the WTO.

"In addition, we will also need a few hundred cars to take ministers around. We need to find 5,000 hotel rooms for delegates," he added.

Background details

The Ministerial Conference is the highest authority in the WTO structure and takes decisions on all matters under multilateral trade agreements.

Since its inception in 1995, the WTO has held five Ministerial Conferences - 1996 in Singapore, 1998 in Geneva, 1999 in Seattle, 2001 in Doha and 2003 in Cancun.

The Sixth Ministerial Conference is scheduled to be held in Hong Kong from December 13 to 18 this year.