Hong Kong 13-18 Dec. 2005

The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference  
Hong Kong, China, 13 to 18 December 2005.

WTO: 2005 NEWS ITEMS

29 July 2005
GENERAL COUNCIL

Hong Kong Commerce Secretary elected chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference

The General Council, on 29 July 2005, elected Mr. John Tsang, Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology of Hong Kong, China, as the chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference.

Elected vice-chairpersons were: Austria's Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Labour Dr. Martin Bartenstein; Barbados' Senior Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Antoinette Miller; and Nigeria's Minister of Commerce Idris Waziri.

Meanwhile, the General Council chair Amina Mohamed announced that the new New Zealand ambassador, Crawford Falconer, is the consensus candidate to replace Mr. Tim Groser as chairperson of the agriculture negotiations and the Cotton Sub-Committee from 1 August 2005.