WTO members agree that the organisation's 13th Ministerial Conference (#MC13) will be hosted by the UAE (during) the week of February 26, 2024, in Abu Dhabi
The WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) took place on June 12-17, 2022, at its headquarters in Geneva. — File photo
The UAE will host the next ministerial conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it was officially announced on Monday.
“WTO members agree that the organisation's 13th Ministerial Conference (#MC13) will be hosted by the UAE (during) the week of February 26, 2024, in Abu Dhabi,” the global trading body said on Monday.
The WTO's 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) took place on June 12-17, 2022, at its headquarters in Geneva. Ministers from across the world attended to review the functioning of the multilateral trading system, to make general statements and to take action on the future work of the global trade body.
The conference was co-hosted by Kazakhstan and chaired by Timur Suleimenov, deputy chief of staff of Kazakhstan's President. Kazakhstan was originally scheduled to host MC12 in June 2020 but the conference was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the 14th Ministerial Conference will be held in Cameroon, it was announced after the General Council meeting on Monday.
Trade ministers from WTO’s 164 members meet at ministerial conferences to discuss new global rules and challenges that the world economy faces.
The WTO recently projected that global trade growth is expected to slow down in the closing months of this year and early next year.
— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com
Waheed Abbas is Assistant Editor, covering real estate, aviation and other business stories that directly affect the lives of UAE consumers. He frequently reports human interest stories, too.