SCED convenes plenary sessions of 11th WTO Ministerial Conference (with photos)
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     The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Edward Yau, convened two plenary sessions of the 11th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference (MC11) as the Vice Chair of the Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, today (December 12, Buenos Aires time).
 
     Mr Yau said his vice-chairmanship at the MC11 has reinforced Hong Kong's role as a free trade advocate.
 
     Hong Kong takes a high principled ground when it comes to defending the multilateral trading system under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Being a separate and independent member of the WTO, Hong Kong fully engages itself in taking forward issues that are in line with the spirit of free and open trade, he continued.
 
     At the plenary sessions, participating ministers representing 164 WTO members reviewed the current work of the WTO and made prepared statements on their trade interests.
 
     After the plenary sessions, Mr Yau chaired a meeting on the issue of Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), which was the first dedicated minister-level meeting on this topic during the ministerial conference.
 
     With MSMEs being the engines of our economic growth and innovation, Hong Kong would render strong support on any initiative that foster their participation in regional and global markets. He urged all WTO members to make concerted efforts to promote inclusive growth for the benefits of trade to be shared also by the less resourced small players.
 
     Mr Yau will continue to attend meetings of the MC11 tomorrow.

Ends/Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Issued at HKT 8:47

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