The World Trade Organization (WTO) has signed a memorandum of understanding with the leading Arab professional services firm, Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. International (TAGI) to facilitate the creation of a new unofficial WTO web site in Arabic.
  • United Arab Emirates: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 at 10:05
The cooperation between the WTO and TAGI has been continuing and close since the formation of the WTO. The new Arabic language web site is now available online at www.wtoarab.org. It may also be reached from a link at www.wto.org or from www.tagi.com.

According to Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. International and who is also the Chairman of the ICC's Commission on Telecommunications and Information Technology, and a member of the board of the newly formed, United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (UN ICT) Task Force, “ We believe that the power of the Internet should also be available to non-English, non-French, and non-Spanish speaking Arabs to understand and follow the WTO.  It is for this reason, and in the spirit of its corporate mission to aid in the development of the Arab world.”

TAGI has agreed to finance an “unofficial” WTO web site in the Arabic language. This site will make available both background information and current and breaking news related to the WTO and the Arabic speaking world.  The site is funded and operated by TAGI, while the WTO supports it by providing TAGI with documentation and information of both a general nature and also that may be of particular interest to the Arab world.

It should be worth mentioning that all the WTO documents and texts were also translated by TAGI.

TAGI, the leading Arab professional services firm, has taken the initiative in the Arab world since the formation of the WTO in 1994, to disseminate information to Arab business and government officials regarding the WTO.  It has organized and sponsored numerous international conferences on WTO issues.  Previous projects included, among others, the co-publishing of the only authorized versions of the officially published guides to the WTO.  The Business Guide to the Uruguay Round, which clearly explains the formation and basic structure and function of the WTO and its agreements, and its successor, The Business Guide to the World Trading System, are both available in Arabic from any office of TAGI, which has offices in all Arab countries.  The cooperation between the WTO and TAGI has been continuing and close since the formation of the WTO.