Maravi

Unfair trading rules continue to trap poor countries, says UN official

Unfair trading rules continue to trap poor countries, says UN official
By Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe
Wednesday September 03, 2008 [04:00]

UNITED Nations Millennium Campaign deputy director Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem has stated that aid will not be effective as long as the global trading rules continue to be unfair. In a press release ahead of the meeting of international development community representatives gathering in Accra, Ghana, Dr Abdul-Raheem stated that unfair trading rules had continued to trap poor countries.

The Accra Aid Effectiveness meeting taking place between September 2 and 5 is meant to review the progress made in meeting the commitment to improve on the quality and quantity of aid in the past seven years in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"No matter how effective aid is, on its own, it cannot lead to sustainable development without universal debt relief but more importantly a reform of the unfair trading rules which continue to trap the poorer countries, penalising the poor and impoverishing their communities," Dr Abdul-Raheem stated. "Whatever progress has been made so far on aid and debt relief to a few of the countries is being compromised by the lack of progress and recent collapse in the Doha round of the WTO talks. Accra without Doha can only be conducive for aid pushers and their aid-addicted patients and other vultures of the development industry."

Dr Abdul-Raheem stated that the Accra meeting was time for all signatories to MDGs to account to the people of the world to whom they made commitments.
"As we begin the second half of the 2015 target date for achieving the MDGs, progress on aid effectiveness has been at best mixed. The three decades old promise of richer countries committing 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Income (GNI) to international development has only been achieved by a few countries.

The biggest economies including Germany, Japan, the USA and even Britain that is so enthusiastic about MDGs advocacy internationally are yet to meet the target," stated Dr Abdul-Raheem. "In recent years the volume of aid has actually dropped while the quality issues continue to be undermined by the old habits of being tied to the national interests including commercial considerations and geo-strategic interests of the donor countries. The UN secretary-general has identified an annual funding for development gap of over US$60 million. Accra provides an opportunity to see the much-neglected principle of mutual accountability in action. All countries signed up to the MDGs therefore, it is not just about poor countries accounting to the richer countries, it is about everyone being accountable to the peoples of the world to whom these commitments were made."

Labels: TRADE

posted by MrK @ 5:15 AM