The World Trade Law Association (WTLA) was established in London in April 1997 as a forum for lawyers, government officials, industry representatives and academics concerned with legal issues arising of international trade and investment, and in particular those changes that are occurring in relation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The Council of the Association, has now held five annual conferences and in light of the increasingly wide international membership, the WTLA is holding its first regional conference in the Middle East. This conference will be of interest to international and local entrepreneurs, investors and multinational companies with presence in the Middle East, industrial entities and commercial and services companies, policy makers, lawyers and academics.

Developing countries, including Middle Eastern ones, are central to the future of the WTO. This regional conference has been organised, therefore, to respond to the increased interest in World Trade Organisation (WTO) issues in the Middle East following the launch of the new Round of multilateral trade negotiations at the Qatar Ministerial. Having joined the WTO in April 2000, Jordan is a particularly active WTO Member in this region. The WTLA Council also believes that Jordan should take a leading role in future WTO negotiations and it perceives such an event as a way of marketing Jordan's trade and investment capabilities by way of addressing legal and regulatory reforms in the country. The aim of the conference will be to set the role of the WTO in its new context following the Doha Ministerial and to examine the implications of the expansion of the WTO's membership with the accession of new Middle Eastern members for the global trading system. It is hoped that the conference will also contribute to a better understanding of business investment opportunities in the Middle East as a result of the operation of the WTO Agreements.

With legal experts drawn from industrialised and developing countries, from government circles and leading WTO practitioners, we expect this WTLA regional conference to generate as lively a discussion between Floor and Panel as it has in previous WTLA conferences.

Visit Word Trade Law Association website: www.wtla.org