RI TO BE VICE-CHAIRMAN OF WTO MINISTERIAL MEETING

London, Oct 25 (ANTARA) - The World Trade Organization (WTO) has appointed Indonesia as Vice Chairman of the 7th Ministerial Conference at the WTO headquarters in Geneva, on November 30- December 2, 2009.

"The WTO General Council meeting has decided that the Indonesian Minister of Trade would be one of three Vice-Chairpersons for the next ministerial conference in Geneva, along with Egypt and Switzerland while Chile will be the Chairman of the conference," Second Secretary of the Indonesian Representative Office in Geneva, Nugraha Judha, said here on Saturday.

According to the secretary, this year's WTO Ministerial Meeting is quite unique because unlike the previous meetings the host country is always appointed as chairman of the meeting, the 7th ministerial meeting appointed the recent chief of the General Council, Chile, as chairman instead.

Meanwhile, the appointment of the Vice Chairman still followed the previous practice that he will come from the regions or groups which have yet to be represented. They are Indonesia from Asia, Egypt from Africa, and Switzerland from the developed countries.

Nugraha also stated this year's ministerial meeting will not discuss the Doha Round issue, but will focuse more on strategic issues on the role of the WTO in the multilateral trading system.

The WTO General Council on May 26, 2009, agreed to hold the Seventh Session of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva, Switzerland on November 30 to December 2, 2009.

The general theme of the discussions will cover the WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment.