Since Saudi Arabia is taking over the coordination works of the Arab Group with the World Trade Organization, the Kingdom will host the meeting of the Trade Ministers of the Arab countries, members of the World Trade Organization, and those seeking to join the WTO, in Riyadh on Wednesday 1 Muharram 1437 H, corresponding to October 14, 2015 AD, to prepare for the 10th Ministerial WTO Conference, scheduled to be held in Nairobi, Kenya during the period 15 - 18 December, 2015 AD, in addition to coordinate the negotiating positions of the Arab Group and determine their demands.
H.E. Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Al Rabiah will open the Ministerial Meeting's Agenda, with the presence and participation of the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Mr. Roberto Azevedo, and the Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League for Economic Affairs Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim Al-Tuwaijri.
The meeting aims to discuss the results of the WTO 9th Ministerial Conference, which was held in Bali, Indonesia, during December 2013, as well as to determine the position of the Arab Group, regarding the negotiations of Doha Development Round, also to support the Arab States League, getting the observer status on WTO boards, bodies and committees, besides claiming to speed up the process of the Arab states seeking to join the WTO.
The request of adopting the Arabic language, as an official business language in the WTO, will be discussed as well. Notably, the languages adopted by WTO currently are only three languages, English, French and Spanish.
It is worth mentioning that, this is the second time where the Saudi delegation takes over the Coordinator Post of the Arab Group at WTO. The Arab Group consists of 19 members from Arab countries.
The coordination of the negotiating positions is considered a familiar action, played by all regional groups and the negotiating groups of the WTO Member States, it aims at coordinating the negotiating positions of the Arab Group, to ensure the active and substantial participation of the Arab member states in WTO, and to issue an Arabic joint statement by the Arab Trade Ministers, to include the positions of the Arab Group of the negotiating topics, in addition to the fixed common concerns about the conclusion of the Doha Development Round.
The WTO Ministerial Conference, which consists of Trade Ministers in the WTO Member States, is considered the topmost decision-making body of the WTO. The WTO Ministerial Conference meets every two years at least. The first Ministerial Conference was held in Singapore during the period 9 - 13 December 1996 AD. Decisions are taken unanimously in the WTO.