Core LDC concerns articulated

The frustrations of the developing countries were only natural. They were not asking for aid. They wanted to do business under a fair trading system in the belief that trade is key to self-reliant, sustainable growth. The developed countries have been advising us on poverty alleviation and structural reforms, so that economic development can be accelerated. But if the trade deal is fair to the developing countries, their industrial growth will be guaranteed and infrastructure strengthened leading to their all-round development.

If the advanced industrial economies insist on reciprocation from unequal partners, where do we go then? The trade negotiations have not been making any headway, although brains and minds worked over time. Actually, the division between the rich and the poor countries over the core issues has proven debilitating.

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Despite the trade negotiations, or shall we say because of them, the share of developing countries in world trade has declined over the years. We have witnessed that when the chips are down and the times are testing, negotiations reach a dead-end. The pattern must be broken if we are to formulate a new set of WTO guidelines for the sake of an equitable international economic order.