WTO, UN-OHRLLS sign pact to better engage LDCs in global trade

Trade ministers and WTO ambassadors from over 40 LDCs attended the ceremony.

“LDCs have a special place in the multilateral trading system. Over the last decade, our members have provided increased trade opportunities to expand LDC exports and the WTO remains the main forum to achieve the Doha Programme of Action targets in the area of trade,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

“This partnership marks an important milestone as the international community is joining hands to help us boost our participation in global trade…That's why the LDC Group has been actively engaging in the work of the WTO and we remain committed to ensuring results at MC12. A success at MC12 will set us on a right path towards reinvigorating the WTO and realizing our broader development objectives,” Ali Djadda Kampard, trade minister of Chad and coordinator of the WTO's LDC Group, said.

The partnership between the WTO and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS) aims to support LDCs with analysis of the latest trade trends, joint capacity-building activities and joint outreach and awareness-raising efforts for trade-related technical assistance and capacity-building activities, A WTO press release said.

There are at present 46 LDCs on the UN list, 35 of which are members of the WTO. Eight LDCs are in the process of joining the WTO. They are Bhutan, Comoros, Ethiopia, Sao Tome and Principe, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Timor-Leste.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)