UN Assembly calls for progress in trade policy to aid development

The United Nations General Assembly has called for a timely completion of negotiations on the World Trade Organization’s so-called “Doha Round,” which aims to maximize the international trade’s contribution to raising living standards, eradicating poverty, and generating employment in developing countries.

After the latest session of the Round ended in Hong Kong on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan commented that that despite limited accomplishments, the ambitions set out four years ago at the first session in Doha, Qatar have not been realized, and that a real effort of political will is required from all parties in 2006 if these negotiations are to deserve to be called a “Development Round” and aid in assisting development goals.

Yesterday’s Assembly resolution, adopted by a vote of 121 in favor to 1 against (United States), with 51 abstentions, underscored the need to enhance market access for developing-country goods and services, and called on developed, as well as developing countries, to provide immediate duty- and quota-free market access to all products from the poorest countries.

The Assembly’s text also called for the changes in trade policy in the area of intellectual property rights and public health, in order to make treatment more available for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics.

It stressed the need for putting into place the already agreed-upon “aid-for-trade” initiative, which addresses economic adjustment helps build supply and trade capabilities along with infrastructure in developing countries.

Among several related resolutions on macroeconomic policy adopted yesterday, the Assembly also adopted a text that stressed the need to resolve the debt problems of low- and middle-income developing countries, as it considered the recommendations of its Second Committee on economic and financial matters.