September 19, 2003	Friday	Rajab 21, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Thursday that a mini-ministerial meeting would be convened by end of current year to further develop consensus among the WTO member countries over unresolved issues following the failure of the Cancun ministerial conference.

Briefing newsmen here on Thursday on the failure of the Cancun conference, the minister said the place for the meeting was not finalised as yet.

The meeting, he said, was expected to further review the status of the on-going negotiations with a view to ensuring conclusion of the Doha round of negotiations on time.

Mr Khan said negotiations at Cancun stalled over the so-called Singapore Issues — investment, facilitation, government procurement and competition.

Therefore, the Cancun conference concluded with the adoption of a ministerial statement, which provided that the progress made in the negotiations at Cancun should be preserved and that the negotiating process should be resumed in Geneva.