Qatar proceeding with WTO meet plan


WTO director-general Michael Moore sees success in launching another trade round as crucial for global commerce

By Staff and wire reports

SINGAPORE -- Officials in Qatar are proceeding with preparations for a major world trade meeting in the capital Doha next month, despite security concerns linked to the U.S.-led war on terror.

The Arabian Gulf city is scheduled to host the World Trade Organization ministerial conference from November 9-13.

The conference, which brings together trade ministers from the WTO's 142 members, will try to launch a new round of negotiations to lower trade barriers.

But ministers and officials meeting in Singapore at the weekend for informal talks raised security concerns, with some suggesting that the conference be moved from the Middle East to Geneva or Singapore.

CNN's Octavia Nasr in Doha reported Monday that officials in Qatar have told journalists there is no change to the schedule and they should proceed with their travel plans.

Qatar, an ally of the U.S., adjoins Saudi Arabia and is across the Gulf from Iran.

World 'needs a successful meeting'

WTO director-general Mike Moore said last week that the world needed a successful meeting in Qatar next month.

He said it was a chance for the international community to reaffirm its commitment to peaceful exchange and the rule of law, rather than the rule of the jungle.

"The state of the world economy demands that we use the ministerial conference as an opportunity to boost global confidence," Moore said. "The alternative message would be damaging for jobs everywhere."

A WTO spokesman in Geneva told CNN Monday that Qatar was continuing with preparations, but there clearly were some ministers and delegations concerned about the security situation.

He said the dates were set, but he did not know if or when a decision to change venues would be made.

Reuters news agency reported that officials stopped short of saying Doha was doomed as the venue for November's talks. They said the decision would be left to the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

"I don't want our Qatari friends to be offended in any way by evoking alternative locations," European Union trade commissioner Pascal Lamy was quoted as saying.

Singapore seen as alternative venue

Singapore's trade minister George Yeo said Singapore, which hosted the inaugural WTO ministerial conference in 1996, would be prepared to step into the breach.

"Singapore and a number of other countries have been sounded out in an informal way whether we could host it in an emergency," Yeo told reporters. "We've done some preliminary checks...and we could probably do something on a much scaled-down basis."

Other possible venues are Geneva, where the WTO has its headquarters, and Mexico, which hosted an earlier meeting in August.

"Everyone everywhere should be concerned about security because the world changed fundamentally on September 11," Mike Moore, the WTO's director-general, told reporters.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick said he hoped 95 percent of the agenda would be settled by the time ministers meet next month.

"I believe there is a right balance of interests that can be found to enable us to launch the multilateral negotiations at the upcoming ministerial meeting. It's very important for the global economy that we do so, and it's very important for world politics that we do so," Zoellick said.

Reuters contributed to this report.