World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 2005

The sixth WTO ministerial conference (2005) was held on 13–18 December 2005 in Hong Kong. It was considered vital if the four-year-old Doha Development Round negotiations were to move forward sufficiently to conclude the round in 2006. In this meeting, countries agreed to phase out all their agricultural export subsidies by the end of 2013, and terminate any cotton export subsidies by the end of 2006. Further concessions to developing countries included an agreement to introduce duty-free, tariff-free access for goods from the Least Developed Countries, following the Everything but Arms initiative of the European Union—but with up to 3% of tariff lines exempted. Other major issues were left for further negotiation to be completed by the end of 2010.