New York: Qatar, has stressed the importance of building open, impartial and fair multi-party trade and fiscal systems to contribute to the realisation of sustainable development, comprehensive growth and creation of job opportunities, especially in Third World countries.
This came in a statement by Abdulaziz Mohamed Al Sada, member of Qatar’s delegation to the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, to an Economic and Financial Committee meeting on ‘matters relating to macroeconomic policies’.
“Global trade represents an encouraging factor and a useful tool for the achievement of development goals, however the relationship between trade and development is not spontaneous and for the trade to achieve a positive influence on development, it should be made in a fair way with a strong focus on the development’s dimension,” it added.
It said World Trade Organisation should introduce significant and focused institutional reforms to address the structural impartiality of WTO and unfair bases such as non-equivalence of powers in negotiations between developed and the developing countries.
“We would like to praise the role played by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in securing development gains from the international trade order and trade negotiations,” Al Sada said.
“We would also like to laud the ambitious final outcomes of the 13th UNCTAD hosted by Qatar, hoping that they would be implemented, especially with regard to easing trade constrains in the agricultural sector.
“We should also ensure the unconditional access to markets by developing countries and the need to lift constrains on trade, being aware that securing balance between the sustainable development’s three pillars poses a burden on developing countries’ meagre resources.”
The statement said the situation in developing countries requires the broadening of their trade and investment prospects, rather than tightening the noose on them, and the easing of the preconditions for giving grants and loans while putting in place mechanisms and committees for implementation of the promised projects, liberation of trade in a fair way, in accordance with what we have approved at the fourth ministerial meeting of WTO, of which the Doha Round in 2001 has resulted.
“I would like to recall that the continued impasse with regard to implementation of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, pose a big threat to the multi-party trade exchange system and the potential to achieve the development goals, as failure to reach an agreement in negotiations was a big disappointment for developing countries, foremost of which being the least developed countries which attach great expectations on the enhancement of contribution to the attainment of development goals and the fight against poverty by increasing opportunities of access to markets, the realisation of balance in agriculture and the access of non-agricultural products to markets.
“We hope that all countries should have the political will for serious and constructive negotiations and that the Doha Round should be concluded successfully on the basis of existing mandates stipulated in the Doha Declaration.
“We expect developing countries to show the necessary goodwill, flexibility and political will to achieve a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations. As we all know, providing support to developing countries to achieve continued growth constitutes a long-term investment for the support of sustainable development so that the millennium objectives would be attained.
“We would like to call today for reaching balanced and tangible results for the next ministerial conference of WTO in Bali in favour of development countries where issues related to their access to markets, constraints on access to trade financing, low investment in production diversification and exports promotion, should be seriously addressed.” QNA
