GENEVA, April 5 (AFP) - Qatar will allow peaceful demonstrations to take place during a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in November, officials stressed, quashing fears that authorities would crack down on protests across the board.
Abdulla Bin Ahmad Al Thani, of the Qatari delegation organising the Doha conference, told a news briefing his country wanted to host a peaceful exchange of views.
"Qatar wants to become a good venue for people who would come and exchange thoughts and create a dialogue amongst themselves in a respectful manner," he told reporters.
Human rights groups have argued that the conservative Gulf state would have no qualms about cracking down on protesters during the Doha conference taking place from November 9 until 13.
Many anti-globalisation demonstrators rampaged through the streets of the US city of Seattle during the last WTO ministerial conference in November 1999, and seriously disrupted the meeting.
The Qatari delegation has held meetings with some of the other 140 WTO members, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the WTO secretariat this week in Geneva to answer questions about the organisation of the conference.
Al Thani said their talks with NGOs had been "very fruitful" but he said he could not say at this stage how many NGOs would take part in the Doha meeting.
Applications for accreditation go to the WTO secretariat based in Geneva.
WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell told reporters they expected a "quite broad and substantial representation among the NGO community".
Qatar's Ambassador to the WTO Fahad Awaida Al-Thani acknowledged the country's mission to the world trade body here was small, but said it was working with other WTO members to agree an agenda for the November conference.
However, he added it would not be clear until the end of July whether the Doha meeting will lead to the launch of a new round of trade liberalisation talks.
Dogged by disagreements, WTO ministers failed to launch a new round in Seattle.
Qatar will provide some 4,400 rooms to accommodate the delegates, journalists and NGO campaigners expected to go to Qatar and no longer plans to have to put some of them up on cruise ships through lack of hotel capacity.
"We find it more hospitable in this way to have people feeling that they are staying on the ground and not on the sea," Abdulla Bin Ahmad Al Thani said.:
