Archive - Dec 5, 2009 - Article

Welcome to the 7th WTO Ministerial Conference! This WTO Ministerial Conference will be a bit different from those many of you have attended in the past. Unlike previous Conferences this meeting will not be a Doha Round negotiating session, but rather a chance for Ministers to reflect on all elements of our work, exchange ideas and extend guidance on the best way forward in the years to come.

Eleven days before the fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention that will be held in Copenhagen between the 7th and the 18th of December, an issue which remains controversial is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the European Union and the Indonesian government, designed to support trade liberalisation between the two region as well as increase cooperation in the mitigation of climate change, in part through the provision of 550 million Euros of funding.

Monday 30 November marks the 10th anniversary of the Battle in Seattle, the day in 1999 when 100,000 protesters took to the streets and prevented the World Trade Organisation from launching its millennium round of free trade talks. The WTO is marking the occasion with another ministerial summit, and is understandably nervous – not because it fears another spectacular uprising (the summit is being held in genteel Geneva) but because the future of the WTO as a credible institution once again hangs in the balance.

The Senate Finance Committee did not vote on the nominations of Michael Punke to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Islam Siddiqui to be chief agriculture negotiator at USTR on Saturday, November 21.