Chief's brief: WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy and Ministerial Conference Chair John Tsang meet the media on the first day of the event.

This week's WTO Sixth Ministerial Conference will be as inclusive and transparent  as possible, Secretary for Commerce, Industry & Technology John Tsang told reporters at a packed press conference after the meeting's official opening.

While the delegates had a lot on their plates and were in for some hard bargaining in the days ahead, he said, their negotiations would initially focus on three tracks: agriculture, non-agricultural market access and specific development issues.

They got off to a good start with an agreement in Geneva last week to formalise WTO rules giving poor countries access to generic drugs to deal with serious health issues, he said. "I'll be lobbying my colleagues to build on that."

A bottom-up process in Geneva enabled an agreement on the 44-page draft Ministerial Declaration, and Mr Tsang, as conference Chairman, says he intends to follow that wise course here in Hong Kong.

At the briefing, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy expressed his delight with the preparatory work Mr Tsang and his team had done, describing the facilities, the logistics and sense of hospitality as "quite extraordinary".

The bottom-up approach to negotiating makes reaching an agreement difficult: It takes more time and is more burdensome and cumbersome. "But I am convinced it remains the best way to take decisions that impact directly the lives of billions of people," Mr Lamy said.

To move the negotiations one step forward, he said delegates would need courage, clarity and convictions to get contributions, he said. "There is no doubt every member will have to make a contribution. If someone does this, it's a win-win game for all."

Mr Lamy also stressed this meeting is focused on negotiations - "not addressing, not discussing" - to move one step forward towards the deadline.

The members are about 55% of the way towards concluding the Doha Development Round of negotiations, he said. The aim is for the Hong Kong meeting to take it forward, with an aim of getting two-thirds of the way there by the conference's close.

In reply to a reporter's query, Mr Tsang said Hong Kong is a bastion of free speech, and has a history of peaceful demonstrations. He said while protesters were welcome to express their views during this important conference, Police would take bold actions to ensure  the safety of all delegates and to ensure Hong Kong people's lives were not disrupted.