The New Nation - Internet Edition

BSS, Dhaka

Finance Adviser Dr. A B Mirza Md. Azizul Islam called upon the developed and developing countries in a position to do so to provide duty-free and quota-free market access for all products from all least developing countries.

He was speaking on behalf of the 50 least developed countries at the high -level dialogue on financing for development in the General Assembly of the United Nations, on Tuesday, a message received here yesterday said. Finance Adviser stated that the Doha negotiations should be concluded at the earliest and the special needs and interests of the LDCs should be placed at the heart of the Doha Round and its final outcome. He underscored the need to operationalise the 'Aid for Trade' initiative immediately with sufficient additional funding. He stressed that the initiative should particularly support the LDCs in addressing their supply-side constraints and compensating the erosion of preferences that result from the MFN tariff reduction.

Outlining the potentials of free movement of labour forces, Dr. Azizul Islam called upon the developed countries to liberalise their markets for all categories of service providers of the LDCs under mode 4 of GATS, which he said would contribute to earning foreign exchange and alleviating the huge unemployment problem in the LDCs. Finance Adviser expressed deep concern over the recent trend in declining ODA from developed countries. He strongly urged developed countries to fulfill their commitment of 0.2% of their GNP to LDCs immediately, as they agreed in Monterrey.

He also proposed to establish an effective partnership and mutual accountability between donors and recipient countries. Dr. Azizul Islam underscored the importance of exploring innovative sources of financing, particularly to meet the resources gap in the LDCs.

Bangladesh Adviser stated that overall external debt situation of the LDCs remained a source of concern and called for full cancellation of all outstanding debt, both bilateral and multilateral, of all LDCs forthwith.