The first day of the Smart Partnership Dialogue 2005 being held in Maseru started off with “tough, very tough” talking between member countries who were not able to agree on a uniform strategy at the World Trade Organisation conference to be held in Hong Kong this December. 

Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr. Mpho Malie, interview outside the conference said the Dialogue was an opportunity for Commonwealth Partnership for Technology Management (CPTM) members, most of whom were developing countries, to have a united approach to the WTO talks. 

More than 20 countries are represented with Lesotho, South Africa, Zambia and Chad representing the interests of Africa. Chad represented the interests of cotton growers, who had a problem accessing European markets, the Minister said. 

An agreed strategy was necessary because European countries in the WTO had a veto which they were always threatening to use against countries they did not see eye to eye with. 

The Southern African International Dialogue 2005 on Smart Partnership was officially opened by King Letsie III on November 9. The King said as member countries seek to marshall resources for the betterment of mankind, it was important that the role the private sector has played I the development of nations not be forgotten. 

The Smart Partnership Movement was a new initiative aimed at combining the resources of the CPTM with those of the private sector for enhancing economic development, the King said.

10 November 2005