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Beirut, 19 July 2003 (United Nations Information Service)--Prior
to the Arab Ministerial Meeting to be gathered by the United
Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) in
the run-up to the 5th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), which will take place in Cancun (Mexico) from
10 to 14 September 2003, the UN regional commission is holding an
expert group meeting on 22-23 July 2003 at the UN House, Riad Solh
Square, Beirut.
The Expert Group Meeting, which will be opened by Lebanese
Minister of Economy and Trade Marwan Hamadeh at 10:00 am on
Tuesday 22 July, will focus on diverse issues, including progress
made in negotiations on the Doha Agenda and issues of priority to
Arab countries. It will prepare a general framework of issues in
the multilateral trading system to be submitted to the Ministerial
Meeting.
The Ministerial Meeting, organized in cooperation with the World
Bank, the League of Arab States (LAS), the International
Development Research Centre-Canada (IDRC) and the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), will be opened by
Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Issam Fares on Thursday 24 July
2003. It aims to clarify the position of Arab countries on issues
under discussion in the WTO 5th Ministerial Conference. It also
aims to discuss the progress made in the current negotiations in
WTO and the relevant issues of priority concern to Arab countries
including energy services.
In addition to the concerned Arab Ministers and the high-level
representatives from WTO, the LAS, the IDRC-Canada and UNCTAD,
participants in the meeting will be international and high-level
Arab experts and academics, as well as high-level representatives
from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the
International Trade Centre (ITC), the World Customs Organization
(WCO), the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD),
the General Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and
Agriculture for Arab Countries (GUCCIA), the Inter-Arab Investment
Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC), The Council of the Arab Economy
Unity (CAEU), the Arab Organization of Agricultural Development
(AOAD), the Arab Industrial Development and Mineral Organization
(AIDMO), the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF), the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the Organization of Arab
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the Arab Planning Institute
(API), and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
The centerpiece of ESCWA technical strategy is to better prepare
Arab countries for the Cancun Conference. To that end, the UN
Regional Commission has produced 27 specialized papers aiming to
help the region form a collective vision ahead of the WTO
ministerial conference. These include: From Doha to Cancun;
Negotiations on Agriculture; Trade in Services 2000; Trade in
Services: Financial Services; Trade in Services: Land Transport;
Trade in Services: Maritime Transport; Classification of Energy
Services; WTO Negotiations: Trade Related Intellectual Property
Rights; Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health; Market
Access of Non-Agricultural Products; Information Technology and
telecommunication in Light of WTO; Regional Trade Agreements and
WTO; Review on Special and Differential Treatment under WTO
Agreements; Trade and Transfer of Technology in Light of WTO
Negotiations; Trade and Investment; Trade, Debt and Finance; Trade
and Competition; Transparency in Government Procurement; Trade
Facilitation; Least Development Countries and the Multilateral
Trading System; Study on the Improvement of Dispute Settlement
System under WTO; Negotiations on Subsidies and Countervailing
Measures within the Frame of Doha Ministerial Declaration; Current
Negotiations on Dumping Agreement/ Agreement on the Implementation
of Article 6 (GATT 1994); Implementation Issues; Trade and
Environment Issues Negotiations; Accession to WTO: Case Studies
Oman and Jordan; The Doha Declaration and Opportunities for
Hydrocarbons Products in Current and Future WTO Negotiations.
It is worth noting that 11 Arab countries (Mauritania, Morocco,
Djibouti, Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, the United
Arab Emirates and Jordan) are WTO members, 5 are in process for
WTO accession (Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Algeria, Yemen and Lebanon),
and 5 countries have not submitted their accession demand (Libya,
Iraq, Comoros, Somalia and Palestine).
Syria submitted its demand following the Arab Ministerial Meeting
organized by ESCWA at the UN House, Beirut, prior to the WTO 4th
Ministerial Conference held in Doha (Qatar) in November 2001.
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