Quote of the Week:

Today's market is "totally manipulated" by the major economic and political powers, "is blind to the poor, who have needs but do not represent demand, blind to the future generations who are not present, and blind to creation, to life" - Jos' Lutzenberger, former environment minister of Brazil
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US groups object to Qatar as host for WTO talks
USA: January 29, 2001

WASHINGTON - American labor, environmental and family farm groups have urged  the US government to oppose the selection of the Gulf state of Qatar to host  the next World Trade Organization meeting because of that country's limits on political expression.

In a joint statement, the United Steelworkers of America, Friends of the  Earth, Public Citizen and other critics of the WTO accused the organization of trying to quash protests that marked the Seattle ministerial meeting in December 1999.

"The WTO's choice of Qatar demonstrates the fallacy that the WTO is committed to transparency," Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth, said in a statement. "We have to ask what the WTO's real agenda is when it meets in a nation that prohibits peaceful demonstrations and hinders freedom of the press."

Earlier this week the WTO's General Council selected Qatar to host the next ministerial meeting on Nov. 5-9. The Gulf state was the only country that made a formal offer to host the meeting.

The General Council will meet again on Jan. 30 to formally select the host city for the talks, the groups said in their statement asking the US  government to oppose Qatar's bid.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE