Minister of Business and Commerce Meets UNCTAD Secretary General

Doha, January 19 (QNA) - HE the Minister of Business and Commerce Sheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Thani met here today with Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Supachai Panitchpakdi. Panitchpakdi's visit came to get informed on preparations currently under way for UNCTAD's 13th session slated for Doha from April 21 to 26, as well as to emphasize the great importance attached by the UNCTAD to the success of this conference. During the meeting HE Sheikh Jassim bin Abdul Aziz Al-Thani referred to the great efforts made by the State of Qatar so that the UNCTAD would come out with fruitful results useful to the facilitation of trade between developing and developed countries. He state is placing all its potentials to facilitate dialogue during the conference in order to come out with clear recommendations and agenda to serve the future of global trade and development. For his part, Panitchpakdi briefed HE the Minister of Business and Commerce on the preparatory discussions currently under way between States in Geneva in order to reach agreement on issues to be discussed at the UNCTAD conference in the areas of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development. The UNCTAD Secretary-General expressed admiration for the preparations being made for the conference, which will be attended by Heads of State, Ministers concerned with trade and specialists in the investment representing more than 190 countries, in addition to representatives of regional and international organizations around the world to discuss the challenges of global trade and how to facilitate the access of goods from developing countries to global markets. Between 6 and 8 thousand participants are expected to attend the conference which will be held at Qatar National Convention Centre. In July 2011, the State of Qatar signed a host of agreements with UNCTAD in Geneva, Switzerland. The choice of Qatar by the developing countries group to host the conference came as a result of the high cumulative experience gained by the State of Qatar in organizing international conferences, in addition to Qatar’s powerful national economy. The UNCTAD conference is held every four years. Its 12th edition was held in 2008 in the city of Accra, Republic of Ghana while the 11th meeting was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2004 The international delegations, which include all UNCTAD's 193 member states, will discuss issues related to the challenges of development and international trade, provision of help to the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), poverty combating and overcoming of difficulties through the support of human capacity building and development of projects within UNCTAD's objectives.(QNA)