The WTO meeting slated for next month in the Islamic state of Qatar will go ahead as planned, said Director-General Mike Moore yesterday, quelling rumors that the event may be moved in light of security concerns after the US attacks last month.
Both Taiwan and China are expected to receive formal approval to join the organization at the meeting, which will be held in the capital Doha and bring together trade representatives from the 142-member countries.
Moore, who was in Qatar to inspect preparations, said the ministerial meeting scheduled for Nov. 9 to Nov. 13 would go ahead as planned "unless something seismic or catastrophic happens," a WTO official told the Taipei Times.
With ongoing US-led strikes in Afghanistan, some trade officials have questioned the timing of the high-profile meeting.
Singapore, who hosted a WTO meeting last week, volunteered to host a scaled-down version of the meeting if it was decided that meeting Qatar would be unsafe.
But Moore said yesterday that he was "fully confident with the planning and preparations," and that "Qatar has the operational capacity and we're going ahead."
Qatar officials maintain there is no reason to change venues, saying security will be adequate.
"We are making sufficient preparations for the security aspects of the conference ... Qatar is one of the most stable and peaceful countries in the region," the official said.
According to Dr. Kevin Obrien, senior policy analyst at Rand Europe, any high profile meeting drawing a large contingent of Western representative would be an irresistible target for terrorists such Osama bin Laden.
"It would be very much in the interest of anybody that wants to spread terror to target such a meeting, especially given that one of bin Laden's reasons he is against US and the West is because of their so-called `occupation' of Saudi Arabia," Obrien said.
Qatar, a staunch American ally, permits US military bases in its country, borders Saudi Arabia and is 95 percent Muslim.
In a report released yesterday on the economic impact of the September attacks, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that while it was possible the November meeting could be postponed or moved, Taiwan's accession to the WTO would not be affected.
Taiwan's chief trade representative to the WTO in Geneva, Lin Sheng-chung (
The next general council meeting is slated for sometime in December, Lin said.
But both Lin and officials at the Ministry of Economic Affairs have said the timing of the meeting is important because the US was pressing for a new round of trade discussions.
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