A senior official at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has affirmed that the fourth ministerial meeting of WTO member states will be held in Doha as scheduled from November 9-13, despite the terror attacks in New York and Washington on Tuesday.
Keith Rockwell, director of the WTO information and media relations division, told Qatar News Agency (QNA) on Wednesday that the organization has not received any formal request from any state to postpone the Doha conference.
“We are proceeding as normal to hold the conference on its scheduled date,” he said, noting that the WTO Director-General Mike Moor has confirmed that to him.
However, he noted that the incidents in the US would impact on the work of the official delegations to the organization, the Gulf Times newspaper quoted him as saying.
On postponement of the official meeting scheduled for Thursday to consider admission of China to the WTO, until next Monday, he considered this an expected routine as some delegates were busy following up developments in the United States.
He noted that this postponement would not affect the future work of the organization.
Meanwhile, EU officials said in Brussels that the WTO conference should not be postponed because of the attacks in the US.
The feeling among several EU officials, was that there should be no change to the Qatar meeting or at least that it was premature to talk about such a possibility, said the paper.
One EU official said the bloc had held no consultations with other WTO members over whether the conference should be moved from Qatar.
“We think we should stick to the timing and the agenda...Otherwise we will just fulfil the aims of those who committed those criminal acts in the United States,” the official was quoted as saying – Albawaba.com
