April 25, 2001

This November, the World Trade Organization (WTO) will hold its fourth ministerial meeting in Qatar. The political climate in Qatar is expected to be much different than in Seattle – the site of the last WTO ministerial meeting.

In preparation for the Qatar meeting, IATP's Vice President for Communications, Dale Wiehoff, visited Doha, the capitol of Qatar. His visit was planned with assistance from Sheik Ali Jassim Al-Thani of the Qatar Embassy in Washington, DC. In Doha, he met with of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, Commerce and Trade, and the Organizing Committee for the WTO Ministerial.

Qatar has made extensive plans to host the delegates, NGOs and the media, though many details remain to be worked out. In a meeting with the Vice-Chairman of the Organizing Committee, Abdul Aziz Al-Kholaifi, Wiehoff learned that Qatar has told the WTO it can provide housing for 4,400 participants during the November meeting. All hotel reservations in Doha have been blocked for that period, as well as hundreds of units of government guest housing reserved for the Ministerial.

The Qataris are still working on issues of coordination and scheduling. They expect to use the web to facilitate many of these services. It appears from the facilities tour and the extensive hotel and visitors infrastructure that Qatar has the capacity to handle large events such as the WTO Ministerial.

There are several areas where the planning and preparation are still likely to present major problems, including limitations on participants. Qatar’s decision to only accommodate 4,400 participants, will restrict the number of participants in all categories. In the past, many governments have included NGO representatives in their delegations. With the number of official delegates receiving accreditation lowered, we can expect the number of NGOs requesting accreditation to rise. Qatar will only issue visas to participants accredited by the WTO. This issue is sure to create problems for everybody planning to attend.

Some NGOs have questioned whether or not Qatar will allow protests to occur during the summit. In our meetings and in interviews with the press, Qatar has stated that peaceful protest will allowed. What this will mean in practice is not yet clear. Most officials we spoke with did not expect much in the way of disturbances. By limiting the overall number of particpants, Qatar and the WTO will indirectly reduce the number of people who oopose the policies of the WTO.

According to IATP's Dale Wiehoff, "A great deal of planning has gone on to make the Ministerial a success. What matters most at this point is the final agenda for the meeting. If it is a controversial agenda, with the WTO attempting to expand the scope of its activities and influence, it will generate a great deal of interest that will generate a lot of disagreements and ill will. On the other hand, if the agenda remain focused on those subjects that are part of the so called build-in agenda, and which have been under discussion since Seattle we can expect a much more subdued event."