Xinhua News Agency, Mexico City, December 9th Background information: previous ministerial conferences of the World Trade Organization.
The 11th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on the 10th. Argentina will become the first South American country to hold a ministerial meeting after the establishment of WTO.
The ministerial meeting of the WTO is the highest decision-making authority of the WTO and is generally held every two years. The following are the basic information of previous WTO ministerial meetings:
The first ministerial conference: held in Singapore in December 1996. The meeting mainly reviewed the work since the establishment of the WTO and the implementation of the last round of multilateral trade negotiations, that is, the Uruguay Round agreement, and decided to set up three working groups, namely, trade and investment, trade and competition policy, and transparency of government procurement. At the same time, trade facilitation was included in the responsibilities of the Council for Goods. The meeting finally adopted the Singapore Ministerial Declaration.
Second Ministerial Conference: held in Geneva in May 1998. The meeting mainly discussed the implementation of the trade agreements reached, the established agenda and the future negotiation agenda, as well as the time and place of the third ministerial meeting.
The Third Ministerial Conference: held in Seattle, USA in November 1999. The meeting failed to start the proposed new round of multilateral trade negotiations due to the pressure of demonstrations and interference by non-governmental organizations and the differences of views among members on a series of major issues.
Fourth Ministerial Conference: held in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. The meeting launched a new round of multilateral trade negotiations of the Doha Round. Another important result of the meeting was the approval of China’s accession to the WTO. The meeting finally adopted three documents, including the Ministerial Declaration.
Fifth Ministerial Conference: held in Cancun, Mexico in September 2003. Because developed countries refused to make substantial concessions on reducing agricultural subsidies and tariffs on agricultural products, the meeting ended without results. The meeting only adopted the Statement of the Council of Ministers.
Sixth Ministerial Conference: held in Hong Kong, China in December 2005. After six days of negotiations on the Doha Round, the participants issued the Ministerial Declaration, and made progress in eliminating export subsidies for cotton and agricultural products and opening the market to the least developed countries. However, the Doha Round negotiations have not been fully completed.
Seventh Ministerial Conference: held in Geneva, Switzerland from November 30th to December 2nd, 2009. The meeting failed to make significant progress in promoting the Doha Round negotiations, but continued to promise to conclude the Doha Round negotiations in 2010.
Eighth Ministerial Conference: held in Geneva in December 2011. The meeting formally approved Russia’s accession to the WTO. Due to the great differences among members in some negotiation fields, the Doha Round negotiations are in trouble.
Ninth Ministerial Conference: It was held in Bali, Indonesia in December 2013. The conference reached the first multilateral trade agreement "Bali Package Agreement" since the establishment of the organization, among which trade facilitation has the most obvious impact on global trade.
Tenth Ministerial Conference: held in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2015. The meeting finally adopted the Nairobi Ministerial Declaration, in which 162 members pledged for the first time to completely eliminate export subsidies for agricultural products. The meeting reached the first tariff concession agreement of the WTO in the past 20 years — — Expansion agreement of the information technology agreement; The meeting also formally approved Liberia and Afghanistan to join the WTO.