PHILIPPINE TRADE SECRETARY PLEASED WITH GATT TALKS Philippine Secretary of Trade and Industry Jose Concepcion, who two days ago expressed doubts about agreements produced at international conferences, said he was pleased with the latest gathering here. Concepcion told Reuters in an interview that the informal General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) meeting gave ministers from more than 20 nations the chance to examine issues with which GATT did not have the political will to deal. "Also, the role of the developing countries has been emphasised in this particular meeting. Somehow it has been the perception of developing countries that GATT is a club of rich countries," he added in an interview with Reuters. "In fact many of the issues that have been tabled for discussion (in the Uruguay round of trade negotiations) will be of more benefit to the developed countries," he said. Concepcion said at the start of the Taupo meeting that the Uruguay round was meant to be a "shining act of faith" in the world trade system. Concepcion said the Philippines would address the issues of trade in tropical fruit and the improvement of GATT machinery to make it more responsive. He said tropical fruit came from developing countries but faced non-tariff barriers, quantitative restrictions or very high duties in other nations. Concepcion named Japan and South Korea as examples. He said he would go to Wellington for talks with New Zealand, which had a surplus in trade with the Philippines, to encourage it to switch imports from other countries. He noted that New Zealand bought its bananas from Ecuador.