Byron Dorgan: “let me talk just for a moment about international trade because there has been a trade conference in Doha, Qatar. I…”

“let me talk just for a moment about international trade because there has been a trade conference in Doha, Qatar. I expect the people who run the WTO chose that place largely because they did not want to have a trade conference where there were a lot of hotel rooms. Experiences in trade conferences in recent years have not been good. Thousands and thousands of people from around the world have come to demonstrate and express concerns about one thing or another. So they decided to have a ministerial conference in Doha. My understanding is there are so few hotel rooms in Doha that they had to bring in cruise ships in order to provide lodging for visitors to Doha. Because of other business this week, I didn't pay a lot of attention to what they did at Doha. I do know that all these trade folks converged and they had a long visit. I watched part of a similar visit in Montreal some years ago. I watched part of the visit they had in Seattle. So I know they all get together. They have the same backgrounds, and they talk the same language. They actually have shorthand for all the trade lingo that they develop. Apparently now, from the experience of recent days in Doha, they have decided they have reached some agreements on a new round, and so forth. So I want to point out just a couple of concerns I have about where we are with international trade.”