COHERENT TRADE, AGRICULTURE POLICIES CRUCIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF POORER
STATES - UN
Trade and agricultural policies are at the core of development, three senior
United Nations officials said today, calling for much more to be done
towards bringing greater coherence to the issue and warning against
protectionism.
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Supachai
Panitchpakdi highlighted the need to look at the current financial crisis as
a lever for engaging Member States and to align domestic policies so that
developing countries can log into the international trading system.
"The multilateral trading system (MTS) works as an insurance policy against
protectionism," he told UNCTAD's annual governing body meeting in Geneva.
"It is precisely because of the fragile global economic recovery that the
MTS faces greater challenges."
He stressed the fundamental need for cooperation towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to slash hunger and poverty,
maternal and infant mortality, a host of diseases and lack of access to
education and health care, all by 2015, and noted that agriculture is
central to the efforts of the poorest countries.
"Inclusive development goes hand in hand with agricultural productive
activity," he said. "Agriculture is the most important sector for developing
countries and the most distorted in international trade."
UN World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy voiced
concern that while predictions, at the start of the 2008 financial crisis,
that protectionist measures would increase were fortunately wrong, and
overall protectionism has been contained, this positive trend seems to have
lost momentum in the past six months.
A lot more needs to be done "towards designing a more coherent international
agricultural trade policy framework," he said, adding that domestic policies
and their implications on natural resources management, property rights,
energy, transportation, and distribution network credit systems are the key
elements of a successful international agricultural trade policy.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative on Food Security and
Nutrition, David Nabarro, said a shared trade policy vision was crucial to
withstand future food security shocks and create a framework to protect
vulnerable populations from the vagaries of the commodities markets.
All three speakers stressed the importance of inclusive growth and social
safety nets to prevent rising protectionism and to improve the food security
of the millions of undernourished people.
Sep 15 2011 3:10PM
STATES - UN
Trade and agricultural policies are at the core of development, three senior
United Nations officials said today, calling for much more to be done
towards bringing greater coherence to the issue and warning against
protectionism.
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretary-General Supachai
Panitchpakdi highlighted the need to look at the current financial crisis as
a lever for engaging Member States and to align domestic policies so that
developing countries can log into the international trading system.
"The multilateral trading system (MTS) works as an insurance policy against
protectionism," he told UNCTAD's annual governing body meeting in Geneva.
"It is precisely because of the fragile global economic recovery that the
MTS faces greater challenges."
He stressed the fundamental need for cooperation towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to slash hunger and poverty,
maternal and infant mortality, a host of diseases and lack of access to
education and health care, all by 2015, and noted that agriculture is
central to the efforts of the poorest countries.
"Inclusive development goes hand in hand with agricultural productive
activity," he said. "Agriculture is the most important sector for developing
countries and the most distorted in international trade."
UN World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Pascal Lamy voiced
concern that while predictions, at the start of the 2008 financial crisis,
that protectionist measures would increase were fortunately wrong, and
overall protectionism has been contained, this positive trend seems to have
lost momentum in the past six months.
A lot more needs to be done "towards designing a more coherent international
agricultural trade policy framework," he said, adding that domestic policies
and their implications on natural resources management, property rights,
energy, transportation, and distribution network credit systems are the key
elements of a successful international agricultural trade policy.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative on Food Security and
Nutrition, David Nabarro, said a shared trade policy vision was crucial to
withstand future food security shocks and create a framework to protect
vulnerable populations from the vagaries of the commodities markets.
All three speakers stressed the importance of inclusive growth and social
safety nets to prevent rising protectionism and to improve the food security
of the millions of undernourished people.
Sep 15 2011 3:10PM
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