“And now, to our man in Qatar…”
That’s how old radio and television newscasts used to introduce reporters on assignment in foreign countries.
This week and in coming weeks, that’s how the Producer could introduce its coverage of World Trade Organization talks.
Ottawa staffer Barry Wilson is in Rome today, covering the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization talks. You’ll find stories from this event in this issue. Later this week, Wilson flies to the Qatar capital of Doha. Qatar occupies a peninsula that juts from Saudi Arabia into the Persian Gulf, opposite Iran.
Read Also
Growth plates are instrumental in shaping a horse’s life
Young horse training plans and workloads must match their skeletal development. Failing to plan around growth plates can create lifelong physical problems.
It is here that the WTO hopes to launch a new round of international trade talks. The outcome will affect Canadian agriculture for years to come. Wilson outlines Canada’s agricultural goals in the special report this week on pages 70-71.
Upcoming coverage is the next stage in the Producer’s history of keeping readers abreast of national and international agricultural policy and trade. Much of our coverage has been written by Wilson.
In 1986, he was in Cairns, Australia, at the formation of the 18-nation Cairns Group of countries formed to oppose United States-European Union subsidy wars. That same year, the Uruguay Round of trade talks began, setting the stage for international approaches to agricultural subsidies.
In 1988, Wilson was in Montreal at the mid-term Cairns Group meeting that further articulated positions on subsidies.
In 1990, Wilson went to Brussels, Belgium, to record the conclusion of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Talks collapsed, and GATT instead concluded in 1993. Wilson covered it in Geneva, Switzerland.
And we can’t forget the Battle in Seattle in 1999, when efforts to launch a new trade round were scuttled amid riots and acrimony. Wilson was there.
Last year, he covered the Cairns Group meeting in Banff, where member countries planned strategies for a launch of new talks – the ones Nov. 9-13 in Qatar.
Qatar is not an easy country to get to, which is widely assumed to be one of the reasons it was chosen as host. But since Sept. 11, it’s even more difficult, and potentially dangerous, to reach. The past two months have been rife with rumors about cancellation due to safety concerns.
At press time for this issue, the talks were scheduled to proceed and Wilson is scheduled to bring coverage back to Western Producer readers.
And now, back to our man in Qatar.
