DEV/2438
9 September
2003
World’s most vulnerable countries look
for progress
at world trade talks in Cancún
NEW YORK, 9 September (Office of High
Representative) -- A strong call for the upcoming trade ministers meeting in Cancún, Mexico, to give high priority to the needs
of the most vulnerable countries of the world was issued today by Anwarul
Chowdhury, the United Nations High Representative for the Least Developed
Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States.
Mr.
Chowdhury underscored that “one of the great concerns that needs to be
seriously considered at Cancún is the question of eliminating the high
agricultural subsidies in the developed countries, estimated to be a billion
dollars a day. This grossly undermines
the future of millions of people in the least developed countries, who rely on
a number of primary agricultural exports -- the case of cotton production in Africa being
prominent amongst these”. In this
regard, Mr. Chowdhury welcomed the joint proposal by Benin, Burkina
Faso, Chad and Mali to establish at Cancún a mechanism for phasing out support for
cotton production in the developed countries.
The
ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) opens in Cancún, Mexico, tomorrow, 10 September.
Under-Secretary-General Chowdhury’s remarks on trade came shortly after
the successful conclusion of a ministerial-level global conference on the needs
of landlocked developing countries, held 28-29 August in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The Almaty Programme of
Action calls for attention to the market access needs of these countries.
Citing
global commitments made at the Brussels Programme of Action for the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs), the Barbados Programme of Action for the Small
Island Developing States and the Almaty Programme of Action for the Landlocked
Developing Countries, Mr. Chowdhury said that they all emphasize the importance
of “global partnership for enhancing the role of trade in development and
transforming it into a powerful engine for growth and poverty eradication”.
The
High Representative welcomed the outcome of the recent meeting of least
developed countries held in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in preparation for the Cancún
talks, emphasizing that there again the LDCs reiterated “the commitment to
further strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system to meet the
development needs of LDCs”.
For
many years, the least developed countries have been asking for greater market
access for their products, and for special and differential
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9 September
2003
provisions to reverse the marginalization of their countries in the realm of
world trade. “It is high time that
something meaningful and worthwhile is done at Cancún and the ongoing Doha
Round of trade negotiations in that regard”, Mr. Chowdhury said.
Mr.
Chowdhury welcomed the successful completion of the accession procedures for Nepal and Cambodia and urged WTO members to take the necessary measures that facilitate
the accession of LDCs to the trading organization. Currently, only 30 of the 49 LDCs are WTO
members.
The
High Representative urged WTO member States to “take concrete steps in the
common endeavour to overcome poverty and underdevelopment amongst the teeming
millions of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable countries in the world”.
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