In a signed letter dated February 16, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the conference, scheduled to be held in the capital of the United Arab Emirates from February 26-29, may need to be extended so as to finalise deliverable items.
ET has seen a copy of the letter.
“We truly expect to finish the meeting on Thursday (February 29) night,” she wrote, “but judging by past experience, we may need to extend it in the interest of finalising concrete deliverables. Therefore, I hope that you can be flexible with your travel arrangements and keep Friday as spillover day to finalise work as needed.”
The proposed Abu Dhabi declaration could therefore be announced on March 1 instead of February 29, the date originally listed in MC13’s programme schedule.
In an email reply to ET’s query, WTO spokesman Daniel Pruzin said, “We can confirm the letter was sent out.”
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