US pushing for Internet pledge

Government officials want "something solid" from the meeting

The United States is keen to see a declaration issued at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit next month which would commit member countries not to tax electronic commerce.

Diplomats and other trade sources said Washington was signalling that President Bill Clinton would only attend the gathering if agreement on such a declaration was reached among the 132 WTO states in advance.

"There is a very hard push on to get this done in time," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The US is very keen to have something solid come out of the meeting."

One Geneva negotiator said the United States was expected to circulate a draft declaration for discussion later this week.

Trade ministers from WTO countries are due to hold sessions in Geneva on May 18 and 20 for the three-year-old body's second Ministerial Meeting, its highest authority.

On May 19, heads of state and government have been invited to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the WTO's predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade or GATT, whose rules gave a new framework for global commerce.

The GATT, which supervised eight rounds of world trade negotiations cutting tariffs and tending rules to farm produce and services, is widely credited with being the motor of global economic growth since World War Two.

So far, only a handful of top leaders have confirmed they will be coming to the celebrations, which WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero says should demonstrate a continuing conviction that open trade is vital to the world economy.

"But if Clinton decides to be here, then it could be a really big show indeed," said one official.

The United States in February proposed WTO talks on an accord that would permanently exempt products transmitted over the Internet - like computer software, architectural drawings and audio-visual products - from customs duties.

The overall idea was first launched by Clinton last July. The world could build prosperity in the next century, he declared, by using cyberspace "in ways that most of us cannot even imagine."