SAARC ministerial moot for increasing trade links

A communiqué was issued at end of SAARC Commerce and Trade Ministers conference held in Geneva, said a message a message received here. Following is the text of the Communiqué: "

1.The Commerce and Trade Ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries recalled the mandate given by the 14th SAARC Summit held in New Delhi in 2007, and met in Geneva on December 14, 2011 on the side lines of the eighth WTO Ministerial Conference to exchange views on the state of the Doha Round and to stress the centrality of the development dimension in all areas of negotiations. They further reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen the rules based multilateral trading system.

2 The Ministers expressed deep regret at the present impasse in the DDA negotiations despite the full engagement of the developing countries and reaffirmed their commitment to conclude the negotiations at the earliest.

3 The Ministers stressed the importance of increasing trade amongst the SAARC countries to mitigate the negative impact of the global financial and economic crisis and urged WTO Members to resist protectionism in all forms.

4 The Ministers underscored the importance of providing Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) market access to LDCs on all products of their export interest in line with Annex F of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration. While welcoming the notification of the DFQF scheme by some developing countries, the Ministers urged others, especially the developed countries, to implement and notify their DFQF schemes on all products of export interest of LDCs, without any further delay, preferably in 2012.

5 The Ministers also welcomed the consensus on the 'Preferential treatment to Services and Service suppliers of Least-Developed Countries" and underscored its early implementation, bearing in mind the areas of interest to LDCs.

6 The Ministers welcomed the "Decision on LDC Accession" and called for an early accession of two SAARC members to the WTO viz. Afghanistan and Bhutan. They further stressed the importance of benchmarking and ensuring transparency in the process of accession.

7 The Ministers reiterated the limitations of the proposed solution for Disproportionately Affected Countries and emphasized that it is imperative to have a full and comprehensive solution to address the concerns of the DACs of SAARC.

8 The Ministers recalled the declaration made at the 11th SAARC Summit held in Addu, Maldives and affirmed their commitment to work on regional food security issues, including setting up of a SAARC Food Bank.

9 The Ministers underscored the importance of flexibilities available to the developing countries under the TRIPS Agreement and expressed concern over the actions taken by some members to circumscribe these flexibilities, in the context of public health.

10 The Ministers reaffirmed their support to the disclosure requirement for enhanced mutual supportiveness between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

11 The Ministers stressed the importance of technology transfer and trade finance for development. They also underscored the need for predictable and uninterrupted flow of adequate resources for "Aid for Trade". They also acknowledged the importance of foreign direct investment.

12 The Ministers appreciated the extension of the moratorium on customs duty and the emphasis on the development aspects of E-commerce as enunciated in the 1998 Work Programme on E-Commerce.

13 The Ministers welcomed the adoption of Istanbul Programme of Action for the LDCs for the decade 2011-2020 and urged for its early and full implementation.

14.The Ministers welcomed the accession of Montenegro, Russia ,Samoa and Vanuatu as new WTO members.15.The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to work together for a successful completion of the Doha Round at the earliest."

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011