Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Misnad graced last night the opening ceremony of the Doha 6th Forum on "Democracy, Development and Free Trade". In an inaugural address, Sheikh Hamad stressed that democracy, development and free trade complement each other and none could be implemented separate from the other. "Democracy, could not be attained without effective development in all economic and social fields. Likewise sustainable development could not be achieved unless the citizen is allowed to participate in decision making and to protect his economic interests," Sheikh Hamad said in the address, which was distributed in a press release today by the Forum's organizers. "In order to achieve the desired benefits from democracy, development, free trade and the consolidation of the new world order, there is an urgency to carry out a comprehensive political economic and social reform in developing countries to help them accelerate development that will be beneficial to all categories of the people. It is also imperative that advanced countries understand the problems of the developing countries and translate that practically into the agreements to be concluded in the frame of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to assist those countries develop their own capacities, he emphasized. --MORE 13 10 Local Time 10 10 GMT
