UNCTAD TO INTENSIFY COOPERATION WITH COMMONWEALTH TO HELP STATES VULNERABLE BECAUSE OF SMALL SIZE
Press Release
TAD/1857
UNCTAD TO INTENSIFY COOPERATION WITH COMMONWEALTH TO HELP STATES VULNERABLE BECAUSE OF SMALL SIZE
19980715 GENEVA, 13 July (UNCTAD) -- A high-level Commonwealth delegation today asked the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) for assistance in defending the trade and development interests of small States within the global economy. (The Commonwealth's definition of such States applies to 41 developing countries with a population not exceeding 1.5 million, plus Papua New Guinea, Jamaica, Lesotho and Namibia.)As a result of the visit, UNCTAD will intensify its cooperation with the Commonwealth. In particular it will help small States through analytical support and advice in negotiations for accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and with regard to the provision of special and differential treatment in the world trading system.
The UNCTAD will also contribute to the activities of a joint task force of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that will seek ways of dealing with the difficulty small developing States face in accessing funding for development. The establishment of this task force was agreed on 9 July, during a visit of the Commonwealth delegation to the Bretton Woods institutions in Washington.
The delegation at today's meeting was headed by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of New Zealand, Don McKinnon; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture of Lesotho, Kelebone A. Maope; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Mauritius, Rajkewsur Purryag; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Fiji, Berenado Vunibobo; and the Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Sir Humphrey Maud. In the absence abroad of UNCTAD's Secretary-General, Rubens Ricupero, the UNCTAD team was headed by Carlos Fortin, Deputy Secretary-General.
The visit forms part of a tour to international organizations in Washington, Geneva and Brussels, aimed to help small States in practical ways in dealing with the economic problems resulting from their small size and inherent vulnerability. Forty-five of the 54 Commonwealth countries are classified by their secretariat as small States. All are developing countries and 14 among them belong to the United Nations category of least developed countries.
After their talks today with UNCTAD, the ministers were leaving Geneva for Brussels where they were to meet with European Commissioners João de Deus Pinheiro and Sir Leon Brittan.
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