The so-called XIII Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will take place on February 26, 2024 in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
This was decided by the General Council of the WTO after meeting on Monday (19.12.2022) to discuss this and other issues, after the United Arab Emirates and Cameroon, which were competing to host the conference, reached a bilateral agreement to share the thirteenth and fourteenth editions.
The Ministerial Conference is the highest body of the WTO, held every two years, to adopt decisions on all matters covered by any of its Multilateral Trade Agreements.
The WTO indicated that the countries' agreement was accepted and, therefore, Cameroon will host the 14th edition, although in this case neither the date of the ministerial nor the specific place in the African country where it will be held have been specified.
As a result of the friendly agreement, the WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, thanked the United Arab Emirates and Cameroon for the “partnership, pragmatism and flexibility they demonstrated in trying to come together and agree on a mutually acceptable outcome (…)”
“The race is on, the countdown has begun,” he added. “We must now step up our efforts to be on track to achieve significant results, establish effective processes for others and establish frameworks that will enable us to make significant progress in the various areas of work.”
The last Ministerial Conference took place in Geneva in June 2022. On this occasion, important agreements were reached on the suspension of patents on anti-Covid vaccines, the elimination of fishing subsidies or measures to alleviate the food crisis, among other points. (WTO Press Release)
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