World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1996

{{Infobox recurring event

| name = First Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization

| image = Singapore Ministerial Conference 9-13 December 1996 (9306028171).jpg

| logo = World Trade Organization (logo and wordmark).svg

| logo_caption =

| caption = Singapore Ministerial Conference

| date =

| begins =

| ends =

| country = Singapore

| organisers =

| participants =

| next = Second Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization

}}

The World Trade Organization's Ministerial Conference of 1996 was held in Singapore on December 9 - December 13, 1996. The inaugural meeting for the organisation since its formation. The event was hosted by the government of Singapore at the Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Suntec City.

The conference established four permanent working groups, covering transparency in government procurement, trade facilitation (customs issues), trade and investment, and trade and competition, and an international agreement on trade in information technology products was signed.World Trade Organization, [https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/inftec_e/inftec_e.htm Information Technology Agreement], accessed 11 January 2024 The purpose of the first of these groups was to conduct "a study on transparency in government procurement practices, taking into account national policies and, based on this study, to develop elements for inclusion in an appropriate agreement".WTO Report (2000) of the Working Group on Transparency in Government Procurement to the General Council, (31 October 2000), cited in Kinsey, M. A., [https://www.jstor.org/stable/25755307 TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT: AN INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS?], Public Contract Law Journal , Fall 2004, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Fall 2004), pp. 155-173, accessed 9 August 2022 The topics covered by these groups collectively are called the Singapore issues.{{Cite web

|publisher = Congressional Research Service

|last = Fergusson

|first = Ian F.

|title = World Trade Organization Negotiations: The Doha Development Agenda

|access-date = 2008-07-26

|date = 2008-01-18

|url = http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32060.pdf

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080725063111/http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/assets/crs/RL32060.pdf

|archive-date = 2008-07-25}}