DOHA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - World trade ministers, shielded by thousands of Arab security guards and shadowed by U.S. marines, sought on Friday to launch a new round of free trade talks that many say is crucial to revive the stuttering world economy.Delegations from more than 140 nations began a five-day meeting in the Gulf state of Qatar hoping to overcome disagreements between rich and poor nations on issues such as agricultural subsidies, drug patents and import tariffs.
As the meeting was formally opened by HH the Emir of Qatar, SH Hamad Ben Khalifa Al-Thanem up to 100 demonstrators led by Bill Jordan, the head of the international trade union federation, staged a silent protest before being whisked away by security personnel.
Despite lingering disputes, particularly between industrialized and developing nations, WTO Director-General Mike Moore said he saw good prospects for the launch of a new round of global of talks, which would take several years to complete. He said, "it was critically important for the multilateral trading system as a whole to demonstrate that effective, purposeful action ... is perfectly possible."
And, he added, the world economy "needs the signal of confidence... which an agreement will deliver."
But he warned that the next trade round must be fairer to developing countries.
"The benefits of the system have not been equally shared... it is benefited most those whose markets have been most open to trade," while agricultural exporters "have done less well."
And the world's biggest trading blocs, the European Union and the United States, are going out of their way to stress how concerned they are with listening to developing country concerns - in contrast to the last failed attempt to launch a trade round two years ago in Seattle.
Fearful of attacks linked to its war on terrorism, the United States dispatched a helicopter ship and two other vessels carrying 2,100 marines to the sparkling waters off the energy-rich peninsula.
The marines nearly outnumbered the 2,641 delegates to the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks. Some 500 Qatari security personnel were deployed inside the venue and 5,000 more outside.
Conference halls, hotels and other buildings were under heavy scrutiny with X-ray scanners and metal detectors scattered across the complex and its pyramid-shaped meeting center, jutting out into the Gulf.
Security fears led to speculation last month that the long-planned conference could be switched elsewhere. Those fears returned on Wednesday when guards shot dead a Qatari man after he opened fire on a local airbase used by U.S. warplanes.