MoFT organises forum on Doha Development Agenda

To be held under the patronage of Shaikha Lubna Al Qassimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, the forum will bring together a host of senior officials of the local governments and the federal government, MoFT and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to discuss the current round of the world trade talks which started in November 2001.

More than forty federal and local agencies and national companies are represented to the forthcoming meeting. Jumaa Al Kait, Executive Director of the Foreign Trade Affairs Department, MOFT, stressed that the forum is part of the Ministry’s strategy to further integration with the global economy and introduce national agencies and companies to the latest developments of the current Doha Round of world trade negotiations which was launched in Doha (Qatar) in November 2001 as well as to promote coordination among all concerned parties on the items on the agenda of the negotiations.

He explained that participant from the public and private sectors will be briefed on the negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda which stalled over a divide between developed nations and developing countries on major issues, such as maintenance of agricultural subsidies, reducing barriers to global trade and market access.

Al Kait noted that WTO experts will give presentations on the organisation’s responsibilities, principles, decision-making process as well as on the agenda of the Doha Round including talks on non-agricultural market access (NAMA), services, and rules including anti-dumping and countervailing duties, and regional trading arrangements [RTAs].

The main pillars of the Doha Development Agenda, which was launched in November 2001 include agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services, special and differential treatment for the developing countries, dispute settlement understating, trade facilitation and trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). — business@khaleejtimes.com