H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al-Thani, minister of Commerce and Industry headed Qatar’s delegation participating in the thirteenth Ministerial Conference of World Trade Organization held in Abu Dhabi- UAE between 26-29 February.
As part of the conference agenda, H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al-Thani chaired the ministerial meeting between Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and the UK about free trade agreement negotiations. Their Excellencies Ministers of Commerce in GCC countries participated in the meeting along with H.E. Mrs. Kemi Badenoch, secretary of State for Business and Trade in the UK, in the presence of H.E. Mr. Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Budaiwi, secretary-general of gulf cooperation council.
During the meeting, their excellencies discussed ways of cooperation and development of the free trade agreement between both parties, and they confirmed the importance of concluding the negotiating rounds of the free trade agreement that started on 22 June 2020.
His Excellency Minister of Commerce and Industry also participated in the Arab ministers of Commerce coordination meeting held on the sidelines of the conference, alongside ministers of Commerce in Arab countries members of the organization, in the presence of Dr. Ngozi Iweala, director-general of World Trade Organization (WTO), and several ambassadors of countries participating in the conference.
On the sidelines of the conference, H.E. Minister of Commerce and Industry met with H.E. Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment of Nigeria, and H.E. Mr. Jozef Sikela, Czech’s minister of Industry and Trade, severally.
During the meetings, Ministers discussed mutual cooperation especially in trade, industry, and investment and ways to enhance and develop cooperation within these fields, as well as exchanged points of view about topics listed in the agenda.
H.E. Minster of Commerce and Industry highlighted during the meetings the economic policies Qatar has established to support the private sector, explaining the incentives, legislations, and opportunities available in Qatar that aim to encourage investors, entrepreneurs, and business owners to invest in Qatar.
It is worth to be mentioned that Qatar hosted the Fourth Ministerial Conference of WTO in 2001 which generated one of the most important rounds of negotiations represented in Doha negotiation round (Doha Development Agenda). Qatar has marked successful participations in various previous sessions of WTO’s Ministerial conferences, one of which is the eleventh session held in Buenos Aires-Argentina in 2017.
The Ministerial conference is considered the highest authority in WTO to make decisions in meetings. The Ministerial conference is held once every two years, where it gathers all members of WTO, of Ministers of Commerce and senior officials involved in international trade.
