Ministers last met in December 1996 in Singapore. Since then, said WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero, his organization had concluded basic telecommunications and financial services agreements and implemented an accord on information technology. 18 May. These include increasing market access for their exports and bolstering their ability to change national laws in line with existing WTO agreements. The system's performance should be reassessed in light of Africa's experience and no new expansion of the WTO's workplan passed until existing problems have been tackled, the African ministers argued. Kenyan exports of fresh fish, cut flowers, and fruits and vegetables face such obstacles, he added.
Trade accounts for only a small share of economic activity in most LDCs, official figures show.
LDCs' exports have grown far more slowly than world trade over the past 20 years, and their collective share of world merchandise exports consequently has declined. Some 132 countries have sent delegations to the three-day conference here. No major initiatives were expected but the meeting's outcome would provide a key indication of how countries expected to proceed with the global trade agenda.