4/11/2005
Poorest Countries Also Need Market Access In Developing World

The 50 least developed countries (LDCs) comprise 12.5 per cent of the world’s population but account for only 0.5 per cent of global trade. To balance these statistics, full access for them to both developed and developing country markets is essential said a senior United Nations official this week.

Developing countries should lift trade barriers on the products of disadvantaged countries to enable them benefit from the fast expanding South-South trade opportunities, the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing countries and Small Island States, Anwarul K. Chowdhury, told the UN General Assembly.

“South-South trade has been growing at 11 per cent a year for the past decade…. Africa’s trade with Asia, for example, trebled from $6 billion to nearly $18 billion in the last decade. South-South trade now represents approximately 40 per cent of the trade of developing countries,” he said.

Mr. Chowdhury also stressed that duty-free and quota-free preferential treatment of the LDCs by developed countries would have a major impact on their economic fortunes. “This alone, if implemented by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), could generate welfare gains of up to $8 billion and export gains of up to $6.4 billion,” he said.

He emphasised the urgency of the LDCs’ call to resolve the issue of cotton and other agricultural subsidies by developed countries, which distort international trade