WTO Arab consultation forum opens in Amman

The Arab Regional Consultation Forum organized by the Economic Policy Development Forum (EPDF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) kicked of the Jordanian capital of Amman on Monday. HE Qatar’s Minister of Culture, Arts and Heritage and President of the UNCTAD XIII Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari and Jordan’s Minister of Industry and Trade Hatem Halawani, deputizing for the Jordanian King, took part in the inauguration of the Forum, after a work team from the UNCTAD cooperate with Jordan’s Ministry of Industry and Trade to finalize all preparations for the Forum. WTO Director General Pascal Lamy will attend the Forum, marking his first participation in an Arab regional meeting. The event will witness the participation of Arab governmental delegations representing economic and business sectors, ministers, experts in trade and industry, finance and planning, chambers of commerce, central banks and economic organizations and businessmen, as well as representatives of the Arab countries in the World Trade Organization. The Forum serves as a platform for exchanging views between the WTO represented by its Director General Lamy and HE minister al-Kuwari as the President of UNCTAD, and WTO-EP represented by its member Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh on one part and decision makers and stakeholders in the Arab world on the other. It also presents the various views and interests of Arabs to propose them for the upcoming ministerial conference. The participation of HE Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari in the Forum comes as President of the UNCTAD to talk about the role of the Organization through the Doha conference and declarations, which emphasize that the world is experiencing fundamental shifts and therefore the UNCTAD under the presidency of the State of Qatar is contributing to the global efforts to address the new challenges and there direct impact on the future.