FROM LEAST DEVELOPMENT COUNTRIES
Press Release
TAD/1900
FROM LEAST DEVELOPMENT COUNTRIES
19991130(Delayed in transmission.)
GENEVA, 25 November (UNCTAD) -- In an effort to strengthen the capacity of the 48 least developed countries (LDCs) to integrate successfully into the world economy, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) today published a Handbook for Trade Negotiators from Least Developed Countries (284 pages). The launch of the Handbook comes on the eve of the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle (United States) from 30 November to 3 December, where LDCs will play an active role in defence of their trade interests.
The Handbook is a product of the Coordinating Workshop of Senior Advisers to Ministers of Trade in LDCs organized by UNCTAD in Sun City (South Africa) in June, in preparation for the Seattle Conference.
The Handbook explains the features of the WTO Agreements and reflects the preoccupations of the LDCs with respect to the imbalances and the shortcomings in the Agreements. It also provides concrete proposals for addressing them, in light of experience gained so far in their implementation.
The Workshop adopted proposals for a Comprehensive New Plan of Action in the context of the Third WTO Ministerial Conference. These included proposals for submission to the tenth session of UNCTAD (Bangkok, Thailand, 12 to 19 February 2000) and the Third United Nations Conference on LDCs, to be held in 2001 in Brussels (Belgium).
In a foreword to the Handbook, the Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Rubens Ricupero, underscores that the credibility of the multilateral trading system lies in its ability to ensure the full participation of the LDCs in particular, and of the developing countries as a whole, both in the rule-making process and in deriving an equitable share of the benefits from global trade liberalization. Integration into the trading system and preventing further marginalization of the LDCs -- and indeed continued faith in the system -- could mean nothing less, he states.
The Ministers of Trade of LDCs will be meeting on 29 November in Seattle as a follow-up to the Declaration adopted by the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of LDCs during their ninth Annual Meeting in New York on 29 September.
In his invitation letter, Tofail Ahmed, Bangladeshs Minister of Commerce and Industry, states that the meeting will aim to agree on a common negotiating strategy at the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference and subsequent trade negotiations. The Ministers are expected to formally endorse the Comprehensive New Plan of Action as the LDC groups common negotiating platform in future multilateral trade negotiations. Significantly, they are also expected to formally endorse the principle of collective bargaining in defence of their interests in the WTO.
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For the first time, the LDCs are taking a proactive approach in multilateral trade negotiations by presenting 67 concrete proposals. The proposals, which are spelled out in the Handbook, contribute to a positive trade agenda and will hopefully strengthen the collective bargaining position of the worlds weakest economies.
The group of LDCs, which comprises 600 million people, account for only 0.4 per cent of world exports. At present, 29 countries are members of the WTO and nine are observers, of which six (Cambodia, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic, Nepal, Sudan, Samoa and Vanuatu) are in the process of accession.
For more information, please contact Marcel W. Namfua, Interregional Adviser, Office of the Special Coordinator for Least Developed, Landlocked and Island Developing Countries, UNCTAD, on telephone: +41 22 90758 73, fax: +41 22 917 00 44; e-mail: marcel.namfua@unctad.org; or Carine Richard-Van Maele, Chief, Press Unit, UNCTAD, on telephone: + 41 22 907 58 16/28; fax: +41 22 907 00 43; or
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