WTO Meeting

“Selling the WTO” (editorial, May 19) seems to suggest that U.S. taxpayers should foot the bill for the World Trade Organization’s ministerial meeting costs in Seattle. While the U.S. government, the WTO, state and local government will all contribute to the funding, an exclusively taxpayer-funded event was simply never a viable option. Congress has repeatedly urged the administration to minimize federal costs associated with hosting international events. It is true that a private-sector host committee will raise most of the funds necessary to host the event. This is exactly how every major international event in the U.S. in the 1990s has been financed.

It is our goal to ensure that the WTO ministerial meeting is conducted in the most public-spirited, responsible and accountable manner possible. The Clinton administration has outlined very clear terms to ensure that there will be no privileged access by host committee contributors to the U.S. government or the WTO. Events will be designed to include representatives of public-interest organizations, labor, environmental and consumer groups. Significant efforts are being undertaken by the host organization to ensure that representatives of all interest groups will participate in the full spectrum of events that it sponsors.

JAY ZIEGLER

Assistant U.S. Trade

Representative, Washington