The possibility of transferring next month's ministerial gathering of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from Qatar to Singapore is being raised among some delegations here, even if the WTO's official position is unchanged, trade sources said on Tuesday.
The feasibility of holding the WTO conference in Doha in view of its proximity to the military action in Afghanistan was raised during a weekend meeting in Singapore of delegates from 21 of the WTO's 142-strong membership, according to sources, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ministers from Canada, the United States and South Africa raised the question during a dinner on Saturday, provoking a vexed reaction from the Qatari delegation, one source commented.
The countries' diplomatic missions in Geneva declined to confirm the move.
Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo acknowledged on Sunday that a number of countries including his own had been informally sounded out over whether they could step in and host the conference in an emergency.
"We could probably do something on a much scaled down basis," he said.
Singapore hosted the world trade body's first big conference in 1996.
The sources said other venues such as Mexico, or the Swiss ski resort of Davos, host to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, had been raised as possible alternatives.
A WTO official said on Monday that there had been "concerns expressed by delegations on the uncertainties of the security of the region", adding the dates for the conference of November 9-13 were unchanged and preparations continued.
No WTO member has as yet formally asked for the event to be moved to Singapore. Such a request would have to be made to the WTO's ruling general council which must take a decision by consensus.
But sources underline that the matter is politically highly sensitive, as Qatar has undertaken a lot of preparatory work to get ready for the conference.
Member states are also concerned that the momentum of the current pre-negotiations for Doha, which may launch a new round of trade liberalisation negotiations, should not be broken.
"It is a very touchy and sensitive issue," said one source, adding: "Time is pressing, I think the decision or confirmation has to be made soon."
The source added that what was important was that Doha was still currently scheduled and unless the Qatari government agreed to withdraw it was "too presumptious and not diplomatically good" to publicly raise the question of switching the venue.
The Qatari government is due to hold talks on Wednesday with the emir and could contact the WTO secretariat after the talks, according to one source.
Diplomats also fear that developing countries, which are reluctant to see the launch of a new trade round, could use the opportunity to call for a postponement of the conference for another six months -- Geneva, (AFP)
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