MONTREAL, July 26: Canada has finalized all arrangements as delegates from 26 countries, including Pakistan, start arriving here from Sunday for a three-day World Trade Organization (WTO) conference beginning on July 28.

Pakistani delegation headed by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar is due to arrive in Toronto on Sunday evening. While in Toronto for a couple of hours, the minister will hold meetings with Canadian industrialists, businessmen and potential investors before proceeding to Montreal.

According to officials here the “mini-Montreal conference” will discuss trade issues before a full-scale WTO meeting this fall in Cancun, Mexico.

Canada’s International Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the Montreal meeting was important to help participants continue to address disagreements on agricultural subsidies, trade barriers and pharmaceutical drugs.

Addressing a news conference on Saturday, he said the government would not allow protesters to disrupt the conference. “I tell you that we have very impressive security,” he said.

Protesters said on Friday that they had plans to “disrupt and shut down” the Montreal meeting. A group, which calls itself the Popular Mobilization Against the WTO, said in a press release it considered the World Trade Organization to be anti-democratic.

APP adds from Islamabad: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan on Saturday left here for Canada via New York to attend the WTO mini-ministerial meeting to be held in Montreal from July 28 to 30.

He was accompanied by ten representative of business community and senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce.

Mr Humayun and his delegation is representing Pakistan at the WTO meeting to defend the interest of developing countries in handling issues of trade such as market access for various agricultural and industrial products of Pakistan and other developing countries, particularly textile and textile made-ups, besides agricultural products in quota free regime after January 2005.