Economy Minister Urges Effective Arab Participation in World Trade Talks

Doha, November 19 (QNA) - HE Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed Al-Thani expressed hope that Arab countries would participate in the world trade talks in an active way that makes the most of opportunities offered by the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling for effective coordination and supporting mechanisms of the Arab group at the ministerial and experts levels. This came on Wednesday during the opening of 9th Arab Conference on the 9th WTO ministerial conference and the concerns of the Arab countries, hosted by Doha. HE the minister affirmed Qatar's support for pressing Arab issues in WTO especially with regard to maintaining the development theme of the Doha program and the participation of the Arab League as an observer in addition to the inclusion of the Arabic language in WTO as an official language and the issues of the Arab countries' accession to the organization. He stressed the importance of the development dimension of the Doha work program in any future negotiations for the developmental need of the developing and the least developed countries, expressing hope that discussions will help in highlighting the region's development priorities. He also expressed Qatar's hope that the WTO member states will soon reach an agreement on implementing the outcomes of Bali conference, stressing, in this regard, Qatar's support for WTO in its tireless efforts to develop a post-Bali conference road map and complete the elements of the Doha Development Agenda. The minister extended thanks to the participating Arab ministers and Arab League officials, whose participation in a significant addition to the proceedings and outputs of the conference. (QNA)