HE Pan Sorasak, Cambodia's Minister for Trade, is hosting the high-level event, which is also being attended by government officials, representatives of the private sector, academics and members of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

As well as discussing the overall preparations for MC11, the participants are addressing issues of specific interest to the invited countries - such as cotton and fisheries. One of the aims of the meeting is to seek points of convergence/common interest for the Francophone countries.

The meeting is a follow up to a similar meeting held in September in Madagascar for Francophone countries in the run-up to MC11.