GENEVA (AP) - The World Trade Organization on Friday deferred a decision on the location of its next high-level meeting while members are consulted on their choice.
The Gulf state of Qatar has already offered to host the conference in its capital, Doha, late next year. Chile is mulling over whether to propose Santiago. WTO staff have visited both cities and reported they were both suitable.
The chairman of the WTO general council, Norwegian Ambassador Kare Bryn, said he would carry out consultations with the organization's 140 country members and he hoped a decision could be made early next year.
Volunteers to host the meeting of trade ministers have been few and far between since the anti-globalization riots during the last meeting in Seattle a year ago. Some 600 people were arrested and the city reported $3 million in property damage.
That meeting collapsed without an agreement on a new round of trade liberalization negotiations. WTO members may make another attempt to launch the round at the next meeting.:
