Multilateral commercial relations: the European Union and the developing partner countries of the EU

The Committee has adopted the report by Alex SMITH (PES, UK) on world trade and the developing countries. The report looks at the need for convergence and liberalisation of regional and multilateral trade at world level. The biggest challenge is the continuing integration of developing countries into the world economy. The REX Committee believes that the new multilateral trade negotiations (the Millennium Round) provide an opportunity to establish a more sustainable path to trade liberalisation, which would be in the long-term interests of both developed and developing countries, given that the world economy is becoming more and more interdependent.�