FE Report

Senior government officials meeting at the regional arm of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific Friday called for exports from the least developed countries (LDCs) to be granted duty- and quota-free access, without waiting for the completion of the Doha round of trade negotiations on reducing trade barriers.

Participants at the first session of the Committee on Trade and Investment of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) also called for a more-proactive role for the region in global decision making bodies in order to prevent future financial crises and their subsequent devastating effects.

Meeting from November 4 to 6 in Bangkok, more than 100 senior officials, academics and private sector representatives from some 25 countries warned against protectionism which could undermine the multilateral trading system and delay recovery from the crisis. While recognising that South-South, intra-regional trade was the way forward, the governments identified "red tape" in trade among the countries in Asia and the Pacific as a major bottleneck.