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| Qatar Gears Up for WTO Ministerial Meeting |
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THU, NOV 08, 2001
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Qatar's national colors began flying along the main streets of Doha and security were tightened in the capital city Wednesday as the tiny, wealthy Gulf emirate is gearing up for a grand gathering of WTO ministers.
Ministers of 142 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are due to converge in Doha Friday to start five-day long-anticipated talks aimed at launching a new round of trade liberalization negotiations.
During an inspection to the press center for the meeting, Hamad Bin Faisal Al Thani, chairman of Qatar's Organizing Committee for the event, promised security for some 4,000 participants, including representatives of non-governmental groups, and nearly 800 journalists from around the world to cover the biennial conference.
Al Thani said he was "200 percent confident" that Doha is a safe place, with some 5,000 police officers being deployed in and around the city.
An extended security zone has been designated around the beachfront Sheraton Hotel, venue of the meeting, said Al Thani, who is also assistant of Qatari Finance, Economy and Trade Minister Youssef Hussain Kamal. But he declined to disclose details of the government's security measures.
He confirmed that Israel will also send a delegation to Doha, saying that "every (WTO) member has the right to attend the meeting."
Qatar has frozen ties with the Jewish state, whose trade office in Doha was closed down in November last year on the eve of an Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit there amid criticism from other Arab and Islamic countries.
According to Al Thani, the Gulf state, rich in oil and natural gas, will spend up to 30 million U.S. dollars for the organizing of the meeting. And he expected that hosting the meeting will "make Doha bigger on the world map" and give a boost to the country's tourism.
As Al Thani spoke to reporters, contracted workers from abroad were planting flowers along the waterfront boulevard leading to Sheraton Hotel. The street was built last year for the OIC summit,which brought together a total of 56 heads of state.
Meanwhile, armed police in camouflage started taking up positions in the main intersections and around Sheraton Hotel and other installations, including a large apartment complex accommodating foreign journalists.
Citing security reasons, a group of armed police posted around the complex refused to allow reporters to have their photographs taken, and the camera of a bold foreign cameraman was confiscated briefly several days ago for shooting pictures without permission.
A shooting incident outside an air base near Doha earlier Wednesday, however, could lead to a resurge of security worries. Alone gunman opened fire on the air base and injured several Americans before being shot dead by Qatari security guards. The Udeid air base is currently being used by U.S. military aircraft under a military cooperation agreement signed between the U.S. and Qatar.
The motive of the attack cannot be immediately known and Qatari Attorney General Brigadier Abuduallah al Mall said it was an "individual, unorganized" act.
There had been suggestions that the conference venue be shifted to other cities after the U.S. warplanes began to bomb Afghanistan last month in retaliation for the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S.
During an informal meeting of some WTO ministers in Singapore late last month, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said it was "no secret" that Doha is in the vicinity of the war zone. But Qatar successfully kept the host right after the U.S. administration expressed explicit support for it.
Citing space constraints, the Qatari authorities is providing only 4,400 entry visas to people accredited by the WTO to attend the meeting. And to avoid a repeat of violent anti-globalization protests in Seattle, the government only gives a limited number of visas to non-governmental groups registered for the meeting.
Greenpeace's flagship Rainbow Warrior is due to sail into Doha Thursday and the group critical of the WTO announced it will hold a press conference soon after its arrival.
Violent protests were part of reasons behind the collapse of the last WTO ministerial meeting held in Seattle, U.S., two years ago.
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