The Commonwealth Secretariat (Comsec) and Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (tralac) organised a meeting for the African Region last year in preparation for the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference held in December 2005.

Participants at the meeting, held in Cape Town from 31 August to 2 September 2005, recommended a follow-up meeting to take place soon after the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference Negotiations have now entered the critical final phase during which key decisions must be made on the most difficult issues.

Comsec and tralac believed that African countries would benefit from another regional meeting focusing on their particular concerns and interests. The aim of the meeting was to evaluate the state of play in the negotiations and examine Africa’s priorities in light of the outcome of the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference as well as current efforts to conclude the Doha Round by the end of this year.