WTO official highlights Qatar role in economy, trade

World Trade Organization (WTO) Deputy Director-General Valentine Rugwabiza has pointed to Qatar's global role in supporting trade relations and enhancing the bases of world economic cooperation. In an exclusive interview with Qatar News Agency (QNA) here on Monday , Rugwabiza said that Qatar is well-known for its support for multilateral relations. Due to the lack of clarity in the global economic vision, she added, the world needs a country like Qatar with its tireless efforts to promote cooperation, including the hosting of events economic forums and conferences that combine both the developed and developing countries in an attempt to find comprehensive solutions and global problems that go beyond state borders. Rugwabiza warned against the danger of the course of things regarding trade cooperation between countries, expressing fear that international cooperation could become more difficult during the next phase in the aftermath of the crises facing global economy, particularly with regard to the eurozone crisis. She ruled out any fundamental changes to WTO's agenda or neglecting "Doha Round" of trade liberalization, adding that the agricultural sector can't be ignored by moving to negotiate other issues in the organization because this sector represents a great significance for developing and least developed WTO member states. Asked who is responsible for the current impasse of the Doha Round negotiations, Rugwabiza said that all member states shared in responsibility because, at the present time, no one can be held accountable. She added that the developed countries and developing countries, which both didn't agree to lay the foundations of trade cooperation, are responsible for the current crisis. The WTO official said that least developed countries are the most vulnerable economies, and aren't responsible for the current crisis. She asserted that now isn't the right time to apportion blame on who is responsible or more responsible for what happened, and it's more important to find appropriate solutions to get out of this dilemma and then review multilateral negotiations to put them in context.