WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) member trade ministers - except from the US and China - have been invited to meet in Ottawa this week to draft a joint communique to be discussed at the Group of 20 leaders summit next month in Buenos Aires.
The aim of the ministerial meeting in the absence of the combatants in the current Sino-American trade war, is to set out the direction of a WTO reform agenda, reports Bloomberg News.
'We're convening a very important meeting of a group of 12 countries that represent every continent - all of whom believe in a rules-based international trading system,' said Canadian Trade Minister Jim Carr. 'So we are having the first step of a larger conversation.'
WTO director general Roberto Azevedo will attend along with European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.
'Without action to ease tensions and recommit to cooperation in trade, we could see serious harm done to the multilateral trading system,' said Mr Azevedo.
The aim of the ministerial meeting in the absence of the combatants in the current Sino-American trade war, is to set out the direction of a WTO reform agenda, reports Bloomberg News.
'We're convening a very important meeting of a group of 12 countries that represent every continent - all of whom believe in a rules-based international trading system,' said Canadian Trade Minister Jim Carr. 'So we are having the first step of a larger conversation.'
WTO director general Roberto Azevedo will attend along with European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom.
'Without action to ease tensions and recommit to cooperation in trade, we could see serious harm done to the multilateral trading system,' said Mr Azevedo.