Bahrain will host talks later this month to formulate a joint Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) stand on global trade issues, reported the Gulf Daily News.
GCC commerce and industry ministers are to meet in Manama to discuss issues related to the World Trade Organization (WTO), said the paper.
The meeting will be held ahead of the fourth ministerial meeting of the WTO, which is to be held in Doha from November 9 to 13.
The meeting will be attended by delegations from all the 144 members of the WTO, including Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Oman and Qatar.
Saudi Arabia is the only GCC state, which is not currently a member of the WTO.
The Doha conference follows on from the WTO ministerial meeting held in Seattle, Washington in the US in December last year, which was scuttled by violent street protests.
An agenda for the Doha conference is under preparation, said Bahrain’s commerce ministry director of commerce relations, Abdulrazzak Zainalabedin.
"The General Council of the WTO, based in Geneva, is discussing the various issues to come up with an agenda for the Doha conference," he said.
Meanwhile, preparations are underway to coordinate the GCC position on WTO issues.
The second meeting of the GCC technical committee on WTO issues was held in Riyadh earlier this week.
"The meeting discussed various issues related to the WTO, with the aim of coordinating the GCC position at the upcoming global meeting in Doha," said Zainalabedin – Albawaba.com
