WTO stresses on riddance of trade distortion measures
21 Feb '07
1 min read
World Trade Organisation's Director General Pascal Lamy felt need to take prompt steps by developed countries to remove trade distortion measures on cotton.
According to him, Least Developed Countries (LCDs) like Uganda failed to develop their capacities for local value addition compared to developing nations like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia.
He also pointed out about the availability of funds to alleviate impact of subsidies on cotton farmers in LCDs. He even referred to 22 projects of development assistance for cotton available from various developed countries.
These development assistance projects have already started to benefit cotton four countries (C4) Chad, Burkina Faso, Benin and Mali in 2006, he added.
African farmers are affected the most because of distortion in price led by subsidies, he said.
The trade distortion measures implemented by the Government of developed countries reduce the prices of raw cotton.
The subsidies provided by the developed nations have further aggravated the situation in LCDs like Uganda.
According to experts, subsidies provided by them should be lifted to ensure cotton prices are controlled by demand and supply.