Stephen J. Ubl, president and CEO of the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed), said that the Association strongly supports U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ambassador Susan Schwab's decision at the Ministerial meeting of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations in Geneva.

"While we regret that the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) will not be concluded in 2008, as we had hoped, we greatly respect and support Ambassador Schwab's decision to reject a package that would have failed to open the world trading system to U.S. exports of medical technology," Ubl said. "We greatly appreciate the U.S. Government's support of our sectoral health care initiative, which could have improved patient access and reduced the cost of medical technology to patients around the world. We hope that WTO negotiations on this sectoral can resume in the near future."

The WTO rules continue to remain in fully in force. Ubl stressed: "We should not lose sight of the importance of maintaining the WTO as the basis for restraining protectionism. The WTO preserves a strong rules-based trading system that benefits the U.S. economy."
Because trade ministers from WTO members could not adopt a package of modalities at their meeting in Geneva, the Director General concluded the ministerial without agreement. WTO members will devote the coming months to assessing the way forward.

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