"This 7th Ministerial Conference will not be a negotiating session but the issues that will be taken up including the Doha Round and how best to advance it comprise all of the elements that are central to our mission," World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy said in his letter to the global media.

The ministers of all WTO member nations, who will be meeting for the first time since the breakout of the global economic crisis in September 2008, will review the recovery and also scrutinies the working of the multilateral trade referee.

The Indian delegation is led by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is accompanied by senior officials of his ministry. Representatives of the Indian industry, including FICCI, are also here to assist the government in pushing for a deal for opening the world trade.

Sharma, who had said early conclusion of the Doha negotiations were in the interest of the developing countries, would have a series of bilateral meetings with his counterpart from rich and the emerging economies.