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International Marketing

Notes The General Council also meets as the Trade Policy Review Body and Dispute Settlement Body.
The negotiations mandated by the Doha Declaration take place in the Trade Negotiations
Committee and its subsidiaries. This now includes the negotiations on agriculture and services
begun in early 2000. The TNC operates under the authority of the General Council.
Each year new chairpersons for the major WTO bodies are approved by the General Council.

2.1.4 Ministerial Conferences

First Ministerial Conference

The conference was unique since it was the First Ministerial Conference after the formation of
WTO and also because there was 22 applicants for membership.

The focus was mainly on assessing the implementation of commitments made under the WTO
agreements. One of the significant observations made by the ministers was about the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) being the competent body to set and deal with labour standards. The
ministers rejected the use of labour standards for protectionist purposes and agreed that the
comparative of countries, particularly low wage developing countries, must in no way be put to
question. There was stress on full and faithful implementation of the provisions of the Agreement
on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) The Conference witnessed the birth of the Information Technology
Agreement.

Notes The inaugural ministerial conference was held in Singapore in 1996.

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Caution Disagreements between largely developed and developing economies emerged
during this conference over four issues initiated by this conference, which led to them
being collectively referred to as the “Singapore issues”.

Second Ministerial Conference

It was held in Geneva in Switzerland in 1998. The unique feature of this conference was that it
coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the GATT (1947). The new WTO
members present at Geneva were Congo, Mongolia, Niger and Panama.
The only substantive aspect emerged out of this conference was the adoption of the Declaration
on Global Electronic Conference. The Declaration adopted on May 20, 1998 highlighted the fact
that members would continue with their current practice of non-imposition of customs duties
on electronic transmissions. The Declaration also directed the General Council to establish a
comprehensive work programme to ensure all trade-related issues relating to global electronic
conference.

Third Ministerial Conference

The third conference in Seattle, Washington in 1999. This Conference was unique in that it was
held in tumultuous conditions and amid protests by non-governmental organisations and groups.
The extraordinary situation prevailed during the Conference, with massive demonstrations and
police and National Guard crowd control efforts drawing worldwide attention.

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