Agence France Presse
The World Trade Organisation and Qatar repeated on Wednesday that a WTO ministerial meeting, a key step towards a new round of world trade talks, will go ahead as planned in Doha on November 9-13.
The director general of the WTO, Mike Moore, and Qatar Economy and Finance Minister Yussef Hussain Kamal, expressed determination that the talks would go ahead and Moore, answering a question about possible postponement, said: "I don't think it is worth speculating (about)."
The chairman of the WTO executive council, Stuart Harbinson from Hong Kong, said that a draft ministerial statement for the Doha conference and another document on application of the last 1987-1994 Uruguay Round of tariff-cutting agreements should be ready next week. He said: "We are making good progress. Of course it is not easy to make consensus among large members."
Moore said: "We need a round today more than ever to boost confidence in the global economy, in the multilateral trading system and in international cooperation."
Moore also said that he was "fully confident that minister Kamal and his team will take every step to ensure the best possible outcome to the conference."
Kamal declared: "We can assure everyone that every measure will be taken to ensure a successful outcome at the fourth ministerial (conference)."
Some representatives from WTO countries have expressed concern about security if military operations are launched by Washington and allied countries in Afghanistan in relatiation for attacks in the United States.
Some diplomatic sources had raised the possibility of moving the talks to another place but the WTO has insisted that the conference is not threatened.
The former vice prime minister of Thailand, Supachi Panitchpakdi, who is to become the head of the WTO at the end of 2002, recently raised the possibility of postponing the conference in the event of an international crisis, but said the final decision rested with the 142 WTO members.
The United States and European Union have said that they want the conference to go ahead as planned.
Moore said that preparations were under way as planned and that logistical problems had almost been overcome.
However, he added that some difficult decisions would have to be taken because "some delegations want far too many people to come to Doha".
Qatar has offered 44,000(sic) places and governmental delegations have sought a total of 32,000(sic) places. The WTO, which must also find room for journalists and accredited non-governmental organisations, wants to reduce this to 27,000(sic), sources close to the organisation said.
Moore was to meet representatives of several non-governmental organisations later in the day.
Recent WTO gatherings have been disrupted by demonstrations by various pressure groups in collective expressions of hostility towards globalisation of the economy.:
