The 12th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization opened in Geneva (Switzerland)

The co-organizer and chairman of this conference is the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The Ministerial Conference is the highest governing body of the WTO, which makes decisions on all issues within the framework of multilateral trade agreements. The ministers responsible for foreign trade of the 164 WTO members gathered to make decisions on the most pressing issues on the world trade agenda.

On behalf of our country, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration of Kazakhstan Timur Suleimenov chairs this key international WTO event. The Kazakh delegation is headed by Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Trade and Integration of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov.

The election of Kazakhstan as the Chairman of the IC12 is proof of the recognition of Kazakhstan as an important and authoritative player in international trade and a key participant in important negotiations on the sidelines of the WTO.

Back in 2018, 164 WTO members unanimously supported the holding of the 12th Ministerial Conference in the capital of Kazakhstan - Nur–Sultan in the summer of 2020. For the first time in the history of the WTO, an event of this level was to be held under the chairmanship of a country that had recently joined the organization and represented Central Asia. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this event was postponed twice and it was decided to hold it at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.

The conference participants will consider a number of important issues for world trade, such as the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, agriculture and the resolution of the global food crisis, subsidies for fisheries, WTO reform, further development of electronic commerce, etc.

This event is the most important event in world trade policy, which determines the development of the trading system of the whole world for the next few years.