The World Trade Organization is still planning to convene next month in Qatar but members are on alert for regional instability arising from the US attacks on Afghanistan, APEC delegates said Wednesday October 17.
The Gulf state's capital Doha was still the planned venue for the November 9-13 gathering, said Canadian Minister of International Trade Pierre Pettigrew at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Shanghai.
"I think our Qatar hosts have been doing an extraordinary job in preparation. I commend the Qatari government as hosts, they have been doing a hell of job," he told reporters. Obviously members are monitoring the security evolution because of the uncertainties of the region, but for the time being I have not heard of any decision being made to switch countries”, Pettigrew said.
A Japanese news agency said Singapore would step in to offer a last-minute alternative venue because of fears about holding the meeting in the Middle Eastern country. But a high-ranking Japanese trade official said the report was wide of the mark.
"Preparations are under way. My understanding is that we will have the meeting in Qatar as planned," he told AFP on the APEC sidelines. "But we have to consider destabilizing factors in the region," added the official, who declined to be identified.
Kyodo News had quoted anonymous sources at the Japanese foreign ministry as saying WTO director general Mike Moore would visit Doha to inform the Qatari government of the planned venue change.
Speculation of a switch to Singapore has intensified as protestors take to the streets in Muslim-majority nations to denounce the US-British air raids on Afghanistan; launched in retaliation for the September 11 terror strikes on the US.
WTO trade ministers met in the Asian city-state last weekend, and Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo acknowledged that a number of countries including his own had been informally sounded out over stepping in.
A WTO official said Monday that there had been "concerns expressed by delegations on the uncertainties of the security of the (Middle East) region", adding the November 9-13 dates were unchanged and preparations continued. The WTO meeting would still take place next month, the Canadian minister agreed.
"It is clear that after the Singapore meeting we had last weekend that we are committed to the dates of November 9-13, because the preparation has been going for a long time, and we are having a dynamic which is very constructive."
The Japanese official said APEC foreign and trade ministers, who are preparing for a leaders' summit this weekend set to be joined by US President George W. Bush, had not discussed any change of WTO venue.
But some APEC delegates toldAFP the possibility of changing the venue had been discussed by ministers during breaks in the Shanghai talks. EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said Tuesday that Doha still looked set to remain the venue.
Lamy recalled that Doha had been the only candidate to hold the meeting, which will be the first since an ill-fated gathering in Seattle two years ago that failed to launch a new trade liberalization round. — (AFP, Shanghai)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
