TRADE: Qatar May Lose Role of Host for WTO Conference

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Oct 15 2001 (IPS) - Security concerns have the World Trade Organisation (WTO) eyeing ways to relocate its Fourth Ministerial Conference to Singapore without offending Qatar, which has everything ready to host the meeting next month.

Officially, the WTO said Monday that the conference will go forth as planned in Doha, the Qatar capital, Nov 9-13, and that the entire staff at the Geneva-based institution is working hard in preparation for the event.

But some WTO officials have unofficially acknowledged that many of the 142 member-states have privately expressed concern about security for their delegations.

Qatar, a Persian Gulf nation, is located in the Middle East region neighbouring the Central Asian country of Afghanistan, which has been the target of a US-led military offensive since Oct 7, an area many consider a “war zone,” as the European Union’s Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said.

The Qatar capital was chosen in late 2000 to host the ministerial conference because it was a city that could ensure a safe environment for the WTO sessions.

Its isolation, culture and policies would make it relatively inaccessible for the demonstrators who disrupted the previous conference, held in the US city of Seattle in 1999, an event that marked the beginning of the anti-globalisation movement.

A WTO source who asked not to be identified said the delegations’ worries were not related to the security conditions within Doha, which are considered acceptable, but to the regional context, shaken by the war in Afghanistan.

The greatest fears of security problems involve the fact that some 300 ministers – of trade, foreign relations, or environment – would be making the journey to Qatar, said the source.

The Emirate of Qatar has prepared accommodations for some 660 journalists, 400 representatives of non-governmental organisations, and 2,000 government delegates.

So far, the authorities have spent approximately half the 40 million dollars budgeted for organising the ministerial conference.

Debate about changing the conference venue began immediately after the Sep 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Since then, the United States has announced to the United Nations that its plans to fight terrorism include the possibility of military strikes against other countries besides Afghanistan.

In that respect, news sources in the United States said last week that expanded military operations could include actions against Iraq with the intention of removing Sadam Hussein from power.

But within the WTO, it was not until last weekend, during a small meeting in Singapore of trade ministers from 21 countries, that the security problem and possibility of a venue change were discussed more openly.

Many of the delegations to the informal two-day meeting expressed support for moving the ministerial conference to Singapore, the Asian city-state that has already announced its willingness to host the even, as it did in 1996, the first WTO ministerial conference.

The WTO would face a sticky situation if it has to convince Qatar of the change of venue without harming the Arab nation’s image.

Trade sources said the ministers gathered in Singapore attempted to entrust that task to WTO Director-General Mike Moore. But he rejected the proposal “with great dexterity,” said one trade envoy.

The body legally authorised to take a decision on change of venue is the WTO General Council, which runs the institution when the ministerial conference is not in session.

But Qatar and other Arab countries could block any General Council initiative aimed at changing the host city. And the council is already deeply divided by the process of drafting the declaration to be signed by the ministers at the conference.

The authorities in Qatar are to study the situation this Wednesday and will communicate their assessment to the WTO, said one trade negotiator.

A solution that both satisfies concerns about security for the ministerial conference and saves face for Qatar must be found before the coming weekend, commented sources close to the talks.