Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed on Wednesday said the LDCs’ share in global trade is as low as 1.24 percent, and just 0.72 percent excluding oil, carrying a total trade deficit of $132 billion. The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have trade deficit of $61 billion in manufacturing alone, he added. “LDCs share in global services exports is only 0.68 percent. Clearly, we need rules and decisions so that LDCs can get commercially meaningful market access in trade in goods and services,” Tofail said. The commerce minister made the remarks while addressing the ministerial conference of the World Trade Center (WTO) in Nairobi. Tofail said the least developed countries value the contribution of the World Trade Center (WTO) in advancing the multilateral trading system. The balanced rules and trade liberalization is key, especially in securing WTO’s pre-eminent role in global trade and ensuring equitable benefit to all its members, especially the LDCs. “We left Bali expecting that this ministerial meet would focus on specific elements of Doha Work Programme for political guidance. For us, that still remains an unfinished task,” he added. He said the declaration on TRIPS Agreement and Public Health, Hong Kong Ministerial decision on DFQF market access for LDCs and Decision on LDC services waiver are instrumental in achieving the ‘developmental objectives’ set in Doha. “Expressing ‘intention’ won’t help us any longer, we want firm commitment. LDCs must have enough policy space to develop their manufacturing capacities. The Nairobi Ministerial must capture these,” Tofail added.
