Bangladesh State Minister for Commerce, Ahsanul Islam Titu in a statement stressed the need for necessary support for graduating LDCs towards sustainable graduation and their smooth transition plans.
The state minister, now visiting UAE, in his statement expressed his firm belief that MC13 of the WTO, being held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, could play an important role in realising the commitment of the global community as per the Doha programme of Action adopted at the LDC-5 Summit in March 2023.
The statement, issued during the ongoing MC13 and published on WTO website, also said the 13th Ministerial Conference is being held at the time when the world is facing multidimensional challenges in the form of post pandemic shocks, economic volatility, food insecurity, rising inequality, increasing unemployment, climate disaster, all accentuated by ongoing international crises.
In such a situation, strong multilateral cooperation among countries is highly needed.
Bangladesh has always been a strong supporter of multilateralism and expects the same from the Member states of the WTO.
The Minister mentioned that LDCs, small economies and other developing countries face difficulties in their endeavours to integrate with the process of globalization from a position of strength and benefit from the potentials of international trade.
“Regrettably, we are witnessing a resurgence of nationalism, and protectionism worldwide impeding collective endeavours to advance our common interest. Distrust among countries paralyzes progress in multilateral cooperation.
The multilateral trade system has been no exception”, the statement added.
More affirmative actions are required for the developing countries, particularly for the LDCs including those on the track of graduation. The WTO dispute settlement system is currently incapacitated leading to an erosion of trust in multilateral trade.
He hoped that Members would decide in favour of a transitional arrangement regarding LDC-specific provisions for the LDCs after graduation, mentioning that special and differential treatment was at the heart of the Marrakesh package of the mid-1990s.
Seeking a two-tier fully functional dispute settlement system and an immediate restoration of the Appellate Body, Titu mentioned that on the fisheries subsidies regarding over capacity and overfishing (OCOF) negotiation, Bangladesh strongly urges for targeting the largest subsidizers that have historical responsibility and contributed significantly to OCOF as well as distance water fishing.
“LDCs, graduated LDCs for at least some years after graduation, and small scale and artisanal fisheries must be outside the discipline as they were never part of the problem. It is rather disappointing that the TRIPS Council has failed to reach a consensus to extend the MC12 TRIPS,” said the state minister in his statement.
Expressing Bangladesh’s position in favour of e-commerce moratorium on a temporary basis, he stated that before further extension of the moratorium for a longer time, the economic loss of importing Members should be taken into consideration.
