As in previous Ministerial Conferences, these informal meetings will take place while the formal plenary continues with general statements from ministers.
The first consultation began shortly after the opening session, on non-agricultural market access.
Non-agricultural market access
Facilitator Humayun Khan (Pakistan) said he hoped members would avoid the temptation to use the large meetings to restate well-known positions or to make tactical statements.
The more time members spend in large meetings the less time will be available to make real progress, he said.
He proposed concentrating the negotiations on small group meetings or consultations between himself and individual delegations so that he can sense members' interests and concerns. For transparency, he will also hold meetings with the full membership.
Mr Khan said that his objective as facilitator is to reach a result in non-agricultural market access that would be acceptable to everybody.
“It may not be the one you would have sought or desired but that is what compromises are made of.
This is where the challenge lies and of course this challenge is yours to meet,” he said.
“It remains to be seen how much they can improve the [draft ministerial] text, if at all, but they must all do their best”.
He also said it would be a pity to waste the opportunity of this Ministerial to move the non-agricultural market access negotiations forward.
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (TSllC Ltd)")
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Taiwan Textile Federation (TTF)")
