Cancun 10-14 Sep. 2003

Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury has been elected a vice chair for the 5th WTO Ministerial Meeting to be held in Cancun, Mexico, from 10 to 14 September.

The general council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a preparatory meeting unanimously elected the Bangladesh commerce minister one of the three vice chairs, according to a message received here from Geneva yesterday.

Customarily, the minister for host country Mexico, Luis Emesto Derbez, will chair the meeting. The two other vice chairs, also unanimously elected, are Yosuf Boutros Ghali of Egypt and Lauzerous Jan Brinkhorst of the Netherlands.

Held every two years, the WTO ministerial meeting represents the highest decision making forum of the WTO. Since its inception in 1995, the world trade body organised four such meetings in Singapore, Geneva, Seattle and Doha.

Doha 10–14 Nov. 2001

Seattle 30 Nov–3 Dec 1999

Geneva 18 -20 May 1998

Singapore 9-13 December 1996