Chief Executive Donald Tsang has urged the British Government to use its influence to help achieve progress in global trade talks ahead of the WTO's Sixth Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong in December.

During a meeting with Minister of State for Trade Ian Pearson, Mr Tsang said Hong Kong was fully committed to delivering a conference that was successful in terms of substance and logistics. He said the WTO could not afford to have two failed Ministerial Conferences in a row, and added Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology John Tsang and his team had been working diligently throughout the year to prepare for this key meeting.

Eclectic exchange: Chief Executive Donald Tsang met with Minister of State for Trade Ian Pearson; gave an address at Wilton Park conference; and spoke with students of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts at a music and dance performance in London.

Mr Tsang expressed concern that the entire Doha Development Agenda might be held hostage to agriculture. As current EU president, it was imperative the UK should exert its influence on the member states to move further on agriculture, he said. In that regard, a G4 meeting involving the US, the EU, India and Brazil on November 7 in London was crucial in unlocking the impasse.

Mr Pearson assured him the UK would do everything it could to ensure a good MC6 outcome.

Earlier in the day, at a Wilton Park Conference in West Sussex, Mr Tsang explained the efforts being made towards constitutional development in Hong Kong.

He outlined the package of measures contained in the Constitutional Development Task Force's Fifth Report to broaden the electoral francise for the 2007 and 2008 elections.

"My aim is to ensure that the arrangements for these next two major elections are more open and inclusive, and also to lay the foundations for further development of our own 'Made in Hong Kong' model of democracy," he said.

"The new package of proposals is our immediate political challenge. It is a defining moment for political development in Hong Kong. What happens next sets the scene for our future reform efforts. If we don't succeed in steering this package through the Legislative Council, then the status quo remains. The hard work over the past two years, of intensive and widespread consultation and of putting the proposals together, will be lost.

"Worse, the mutual trust we have taken pains to build between the Central Government and ourselves, the trust we need to take our democratisation forward, will dissipate."

After his return to London, Mr Tsang told the media that while Hong Kong's constitutional development was a matter for China and Hong Kong, he recognised that it was also a matter of interest to many of Hong Kong's trading partners. The Hong Kong Government had been explaining the package to them, and he had heard many views.

"The US Government wants Hong Kong to have universal suffrage as soon as possible. This has always been their position," he said.

"As to the UK, on Wednesday the Prime Minister said that on the democratisation front, Hong Kong has always made progress since reunification. (Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor ) Lord Falconer also expressed his opinion on the Fifth Report, which he regarded as constructive and progressive."