THE World Trade Organisation (WTO) said the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) has been moved from Kazakhstan to Switzerland and will take place in the week of November 29, 2021. The timing and venue were endorsed at a meeting of the WTO's General Council on Monday.

MC12 was originally scheduled to take place from June 8-11, 2020 in Kazakhstan's capital, Nur-Sultan, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, members discussed Kazakhstan's offer to reschedule the conference to June, 2021. Once the pandemic escalated, it was deemed "unrealistic" to hold the MC12 in June.

The WTO members agreed that the organisation's MC12 will be held in Geneva from November 29, 2021, and will be chaired by Kazakhstan's Minister of Trade and Integration, Mr Bakhyt Sultanov, as decided in 2019.

The Ministerial Conference, which is attended by trade ministers and other senior officials from the organization's 164 members, is the highest decision-making body of the WTO. Under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO, the Ministerial Conference is to meet at least once every two years.

The Eleventh Ministerial Conference took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina in December, 2017.