GENEVA, Oct 14: The World Trade Organisation has set up a special “task force” to examine the impact of the financial crisis on global commerce, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Tuesday.

The task force will “follow up the effects of the financial crisis on our different areas of work,” Lamy told the WTO’s 153 members at a General Council meeting.

Lamy announced last week that the WTO would hold a special meeting next month on the impact of the crisis on trade finance.

Among the invitees are World Bank head Robert Zoellick, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the presidents of the Inter-American, Asian and African development banks.

Representatives from Citigroup, Commerzbank, the Royal Bank of Scotland, JP Morgan and HSBC have also been invited to the Nov 12 meeting in Geneva because they are the most active banks in the field of trade finance, trade sources said. —AFP