Interviews
Shri Nath addresses General Debate of the UNCTAD XII Ministerial Conference
23 Apr '08
4 min read
The Minister stated that India and Africa are building a genuine partnership based on the principles of mutual benefit, mutual respect and equality.
While highlighting the market access initiatives, Shri Kamal Nath stated: “We recognize that for the LDCs, especially those in the Africa region need market access for ensuring the development dimensions of international trade.
It is in this regard that only a few days ago, in the India-Africa Summit in New Delhi, which most of the dignitaries present here attended, we announced our decision to implement a Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for all the LDCs on a non-reciprocal basis.
On 85% of the total items, we will be bringing our duties to zero in a time frame of five years and on additional 9% items there will be fixed tariff preferences.
This Scheme would be implemented from 1st May, 2008 and we are sure that the African LDCs would reap the benefit of this scheme to their advantage”.
On the multilateral trade front, Shri Kamal Nath said: “The Doha Development Agenda is one of the most ambitious attempts at ensuring that the issue of development is firmly at the core of the multilateral trading system.
The fundamental principles of the multilateral trading system, namely, non-discrimination, predictability, stability and transparency are fully supportive of development.
Since development issues lie at the heart of the current Round of Negotiations, thekey to the Negotiations, therefore, should be, firstly, to ensure that this Round delivers for development and secondly, helps developing countries to integrate into the world trading system and take advantage of opportunities since many developing countries also need assistance in building up their capacity to make use of multilateral trade liberalization.
Given the present interface that exists between national development strategies and international process and disciplines, we firmly believe that there is a need for creating an international enabling environment that is conducive to the growth of developing countries in a manner that best suits their circumstances and national priorities.
Therefore, within the framework of international disciplines, each country must have the policy space to choose what is most appropriate for its circumstances and for the overall welfare of its people”.
Earlier, Shri Kamal Nath had also had various bilateral meetings with the Trade Ministers of UK, China, Pakistan, Argentina, Sweden, Senegal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand and Mali and discussed various matters including the bilateral relations and economic cooperation.
During the course of the discussions, he informed the Ministers that FDI policies in India have been further liberalised and many new sectors have been opened recently and added that infrastructure sector in India is an opportunity for investment.
While highlighting the market access initiatives, Shri Kamal Nath stated: “We recognize that for the LDCs, especially those in the Africa region need market access for ensuring the development dimensions of international trade.
It is in this regard that only a few days ago, in the India-Africa Summit in New Delhi, which most of the dignitaries present here attended, we announced our decision to implement a Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme for all the LDCs on a non-reciprocal basis.
On 85% of the total items, we will be bringing our duties to zero in a time frame of five years and on additional 9% items there will be fixed tariff preferences.
This Scheme would be implemented from 1st May, 2008 and we are sure that the African LDCs would reap the benefit of this scheme to their advantage”.
On the multilateral trade front, Shri Kamal Nath said: “The Doha Development Agenda is one of the most ambitious attempts at ensuring that the issue of development is firmly at the core of the multilateral trading system.
The fundamental principles of the multilateral trading system, namely, non-discrimination, predictability, stability and transparency are fully supportive of development.
Since development issues lie at the heart of the current Round of Negotiations, thekey to the Negotiations, therefore, should be, firstly, to ensure that this Round delivers for development and secondly, helps developing countries to integrate into the world trading system and take advantage of opportunities since many developing countries also need assistance in building up their capacity to make use of multilateral trade liberalization.
Given the present interface that exists between national development strategies and international process and disciplines, we firmly believe that there is a need for creating an international enabling environment that is conducive to the growth of developing countries in a manner that best suits their circumstances and national priorities.
Therefore, within the framework of international disciplines, each country must have the policy space to choose what is most appropriate for its circumstances and for the overall welfare of its people”.
Earlier, Shri Kamal Nath had also had various bilateral meetings with the Trade Ministers of UK, China, Pakistan, Argentina, Sweden, Senegal, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Thailand and Mali and discussed various matters including the bilateral relations and economic cooperation.
During the course of the discussions, he informed the Ministers that FDI policies in India have been further liberalised and many new sectors have been opened recently and added that infrastructure sector in India is an opportunity for investment.
Press Information Bureau Government of India
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