The General Council, on 8 February 2001, agreed that the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar, will be held on 9-13 November 2001. The offer of the Government of Qatar to hold the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference was accepted by the General Council on 30 January 2001, when it also authorized its Chairman, in cooperation with the Director-General, to start consultations on both organizational and substantive matters related to the preparations of the Conference and to report back to the General Council.