Saudi Arabia will host on Sunday a meeting of Arab trade ministers, in preparation for the 12th World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference (MC12) scheduled to take place from November 30 until December 3 in Geneva, Switzerland.
The ministers will meet to coordinate the negotiating stances of the Arab countries and define their demands for the international organization.
Ministers aim to urge WTO members to facilitate and speed up the joining of developing and least developed countries to the organization, including the Arab countries seeking to join.
They also plan to request that the Arabic language be adopted as an official language in the WTO, as is the case with United Nations agencies.
The meeting reiterated requests by the Arab League and the State of Palestine to obtain the observer status in the WTO’s councils, bodies and committees and ministerial conferences.
The kingdom has served as coordinator of the Arab Group at the WTO for eight rounds since 2011.
