African states have floated the idea of a separate trade deal package to address their concerns while big countries wrangle over full global agreement, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General Pascal Lamy said Thursday.
Africa wants a faster resolution to long-running global trade talks, held up by discussions among powers such as the US, EU, China and India over obstacles of less relevance on the world’s poorest continent.
– There is not only a sort of frustration, there is also an operational option which African countries have floated this week in the General Council in Geneva, Lamy said at the 20th World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa, held i Tanzania.
Lamy said he expected such a proposal would address duty-free, quota-free access for goods from least developed countries with a similar deal on services and a possible deal on trade facilitation – making cross border trade easier and cheaper.
It could also be expected to address one of the key demands of some African states for an end to cotton subsidies, which depress prices for poor farmers.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
