The World Trade Organisation will hold a ministerial conference in Seattle from 30 November to 3 December 1999 to launch a new round of trade negotiations.
Under the auspices of GATT, the WTO's predecessor, an agreement on agriculture was concluded in 1994 as part of the Uruguay Round of trade negotiations. The agreement on agriculture commits WTO members to resume negotiations for the continuation of the trade liberalisation process in 1999. It is expected that the new WTO round, including a new agreement on agriculture, will take a number of years to complete.