SHANGHAI, Oct 20: US President George W. Bush gave a boost on Saturday to Qatar’s plans to press ahead with a crucial trade meeting next month despite concerns about security in the Middle East as Washington’s war against terrorism unfolds.

Speculation hardened that the venue would be shifted from the Gulf State when Pacific Rim ministers omitted to mention Doha, the capital of Qatar, in a statement on Thursday affirming the importance of launching a global round of market-opening negotiations at the November 9-13 talks.

Singapore, which hosted the WTO’s first ministerial meeting in December 1996, has already offered to act as a “spare tyre” and play host to the meeting if need be. But Qatar, a key ally of the United States, has insisted the meeting will go ahead.

We must...launch a new global trade round in November in Doha, Bush told a business conference on the sidelines of this weekend’s summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

We’re committed to the goal of a world that lives and trades in freedom and we must meet any challenge that stands in our way. There’s much more to be done and all of us — every nation — must redouble our efforts to see that Doha is a success, he said.

But Qatar’s envoy to the UN was quoted on Friday as saying that to shift the venue would be to play into the hands of the terrorists that Washington has vowed to hunt down.

Qatar won a vote of confidence at the APEC forum from the next head of the 142-member WTO.

Former Thai deputy prime minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who takes over as WTO director-general next year, appealed to governments to put aside any second thoughts about meeting in Doha.

We shouldn’t change the place, we shouldn’t change the date. We should just go ahead with our agenda, Supachai told the business conference.

Qatar had invested much time and money in preparing for the meeting, and countries in the Middle East especially were looking forward to meeting in the Gulf state.

I would say this is as safe a place as anywhere else. Security has been very, very tight even before the September 11 events, Supachai said.

He said the downturn in the global economy since the attacks meant it was high time for leaders to back words with deeds and actually start negotiating the lowering of trade barriers.

The planned trade round has been in limbo since a meeting of WTO ministers in Seattle in 1999 ended in acrimony against a backdrop of rioting by anti-capitalism protesters.

It’s about time we acted. I don’t know if I’m being too harsh on these leaders if I said we’ve paid enough lip service.If there was ever a time when we must absolutely move into a trade round, this is the time to do it, Supachai said.—Reuters