Japan will host an informal ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization on Feb. 15 and 16, Foreign Ministry officials said Friday.
The Tokyo meeting is aimed at offering ministers from selected parties a chance to seek points for compromise in a bid to allow the 144-member world trade watchdog to successfully conclude a three-year trade round launched in November 2001 in Doha, Qatar.
The Tokyo gathering is to follow one held last November in Sydney, where ministers from 25 economies convened for "a long and tiring" one-day debate.