United Press International By: DALAL SAOUD BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 29 Arab Economic and Trade ministers gathered Monday for a two-day meeting to coordinate their stands ahead of next month's World Trade Organization conference in Qatar. Mervat Tallawy, executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, a U.N. body, said the challenges faced by developing countries, especially related to the WTO and its trade accords, were "big and complex." She said the ministers would "exchange points of view and unify their vision" to prepare for the Nov. 9-13 conference. Tallawy said there were several divisions over the effects of globalization, and added that the Arab states "should participate in taking decisions and shaping the future." She warned, however, that the world economy was weak because of slowing economies in several countries and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. She said the effect of Sept. 11 "began to appear in numerous sectors, such as transportation, tourism and insurance services and are expected to affect world trade." "Undoubtedly, Arab countries will be affected, too, and we should be ready to ease its impact," she said. Rubens Ricupero, secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, said in a statement distributed at the Beirut meeting that the Sept. 11 attacks "have brutally underlined the need for greater solidarity in all areas of international relations, particularly in trade." He said the Doha conference, the first in an Arab country since the WTO was established in 1994, should "initiate a process to better reflect and consolidate this solidarity" by maintaining liberal trade markets and opening markets in the industrialized world for the products and services of the developing states. Bassel Fleihan, the Lebanese minister of Economy and Trade, said merging Arab economies would allow the region to benefit from the multilateral trade system. He called on Arab states to liberalize their trade exchange and create an Arab free-trade zone. "We are convinced of the importance and need that the developing countries join (the WTO) as to be able to participate in decision-making and play an effective role to influence world trade and economic policies," Fleihan said. "Joining the WTO is not a target by itself but a way to modernize our economic and trade system. It's a chance to reactivate economic reform.":
