DOHA, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Qatar said on Monday it will allow peaceful demonstrations during the next ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which the Gulf Arab state is hosting in November.
"We will not prevent anybody from entering (the country) to demonstrate on condition that the demonstrations are peaceful. We will allow them to express their views in total freedom," Qatar's Minister of Finance, Economy and Trade Yousef Hussein Kamal told reporters.
"We have started preparations to host the meeting," he added.
American labour, environmental and family farm groups, critics of the WTO, have urged the U.S. government to oppose the selection of Qatar to host the WTO meeting because of what they said were the country's limits on political expression.
They accused the WTO of trying to quash protests that marked the Seattle ministerial meeting of the organisation in 1999.
Earlier this month the WTO's General Council selected Qatar to host the next ministerial meeting on November 5-9. The Gulf Arab state was the only country that made a formal offer to host the meeting.
The General Council will meet again on Tuesday to formally select the host city for the talks.:
