Moving WTO talks "victory" for terror-Qatar envoy

Reuters Doha

Qatar's U.N. envoy was quoted on Friday as saying the World Trade Organization (WTO) would be playing into the hands of "terrorists" if it moved next month's ministerial meeting from Doha over security concerns.

The official Qatar News Agency quoted Ambassador Nasser bin Abdel Aziz al-Nasser as saying that changing the venue of the Nov. 9-13 meeting could also be seen as an attempt to link Muslims and Arabs to terrorism, as well as harm Qatar's prospects to host future events.

"Moving the conference...will demonstrate the fear and nervousness of the participating countries, which would be a big victory for the terrorists, as well as affecting the credibility of countries hosting international conferences in future," the state-owned agency quoted al-Nasser as saying.

"If this conference is not held in Qatar, then there could be negative repercussions...that could be considered as directed against Arab and Muslim countries, which could lead to attempts to link Islam and Arabs to terrorism.

"It could also damage the credibility of Qatar or any other country hosting international fora in the future," he added.

Ministers from the WTO's 142 member countries, as well as 30 nations who are waiting to join, are due to launch a new round of crucial trade talks in Doha next month.

But there have been strong indications that many want the gathering transferred, probably to Singapore, because of growing tension in Muslim countries over the U.S.-led raids on Afghanistan as part of Washington's anti-terrorism campaign.

Qatar, however, has said it will go ahead with preparations for the meeting until further notice.

But its WTO envoy said in Geneva earlier on Friday that there could be some firm move early next week on whether the venue might be changed.

"I think you'll hear good news on Monday," Sheikh Fahed Awaid al-Thani told reporters without elaborating.

Singapore, which hosted the WTO's first ministerial meeting in December 1996, has already said it would be ready to handle a scaled-down meeting, at which global economic powers are hoping to launch a new rounds of trade liberalization negotiations.

The meeting is also expected to herald China's formal admission into the WTO after 15 years of negotiations that were completed last month.