World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005
| WTO Ministerial Conference of 2005 | |
| Nations participating | 148 |
| Events | -- |
| Opening ceremony | 13 December 2005 |
| Closing ceremony | 18 December 2005 |
| Officially opened by | Hong Kong SAR |
| Conference venue | HKCEC, Wan Chai, Hong Kong |
| Number of protesters | 10,000 |
| Number of NGOs | -- |
| Budget | HK$ 250 million |
| Website | The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference |
The Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, also known as the WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference and abbreviated as MC6, was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. Representatives from 148 countries were expected to attend the event, as well as over 10,000 protesters led by the Hong Kong People’s Alliance on WTO and made up of largely South Korean farmers. Wan Chai Sports Ground and Wan Chai Cargo Handling Basin in Wan Chai North have been designated as protest zones. Victoria Park served as the starting point for the rallies. Police wielded sticks, used gas grenades and shot rubber bullets at some of the protesters. They arrested 910 people, 14 were charged, but none were convicted.
The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body in the World Trade Organization (WTO), meeting at least once every two years and providing political direction for the organization. The Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization, which was held from 13 December to 18 December 2005, is the sixth ministerial conference (MC6) of the WTO. The 150 WTO member economies aimed to reach a preliminary agreement on liberalization of farm trade by reducing subsidies, and address other issues at the Hong Kong meeting, aiming for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round in 2006.
The declaration of the "MC4 in Doha", named for the Qatari capital (Doha) has provided the mandate for negotiations on a number of issues on agriculture, concerning the implementation of the agreements which had to be completed in 2000 originally. However, the declaration set 1 January 2005 as the deadline for completing all but two of the agreements.
The Doha round aims to cut trade barriers across a wide range of sectors and is supposed to address the needs of developing countries, for whom agriculture is a particularly sensitive topic. Developing countries say farm trade needs to be tackled first because it is so important to their economies and because it is heavily protected in many rich countries. The 25-nation European Union, in particular, has been under fire for not making further cuts to its farm tariffs and subsidies. A series of meetings between ministers has failed to break the deadlock. The EU says equal attention needs to be paid to manufactured goods, which far outweigh agriculture's importance in global trade.
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