Roundup: Poorest countries left little options as fair trade talks show no progress

Trade ministers from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) attending the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Nairobi have been left with little options but to continue engaging the rich states on steps to correct the global trade imbalances. The ministerial meeting is being held against a backdrop of a decline in LDCs's share of the world trade due to the huge subsidies given to farmers in developed nations.

Bangladeshi Commerce Minister, Tofail Ahmed, leading the LDC Group, decried the decline in the share of the trade. He said most of the world's poorest countries recorded a combined trade deficit of 6 billion U.S. dollars and their share of the world trade was a paltry 1.24 percent of the current 19 trillion dollars.

"We left the Bali ministerial conference expecting this ministerial conference would focus on our issues," Ahmed said on Wednesday in an address to the Nairobi Ministerial Conference.

To correct the trade imbalance that has mostly affected the poor countries, the LDC states negotiated for a series of special measures to help boost their share of world trade.

Ahmed said while focus on ensuring fair trade depended most on the WTO's pre-eminent role in promoting global trade and ensuring it benefits the members. He said the Nairobi meeting must ensure the export trade is not affected in the middle of trade distorting practices by the rich states.

"The Nairobi Declaration should conclude the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and transform the decisions taken in Bali into action," Ahmed reiterated.

At the ministerial conference, South African Trade Minister Rob Davies, said the LDCs and the African producers of crops were being cheated of their hard-earned income from the trade in agricultural products.

Citing the case of coffee, which earns African countries some 6 billion dollars, Davies said recent reports indicate the global trade in coffee products brought in some 100 billion dollars, most of which ended up in the western world.

"Africa is an importer of finished goods and an exporter of raw materials. We have identified measures that would help us to develop an industrial value chain. The developing countries must be allowed to pursue their industrialization goals," Davies told the ministers.

For Africa to benefit from international trade, Davies said poor countries require "special and differential arrangements" to be made available to promote export trade.

He said to correct the trade imbalance, countries not only need to concentrate on trade rules but also on the lack of finished products to trade and work towards creating a regional production chain.

"We prioritize the industrialization goal of Africa and the removal of the subsidies that affect markets," Davies said.

Davies said the Chinese assistance to help African countries develop local industrial parks, special economic zones and the provision of funding for industrialization, were of importance. Endit