November 30, 2009
Leading UK parliamentarians tell WTO meeting “don’t wait for a full Doha Agreement - act now to help poorest nations.”
Clare Short, John Battle, Sir Menzies Campbell, Lord Hastings and Peter Lilley.

London, UK, November 30, 2009 - Five leading parliamentarians have called on the first Ministerial Meeting of the WTO for four years – which is to be held from November 30 to December 2 - to put the interests of the poorest countries back at the top of the trade agenda.

They say “The Doha Round was supposed to produce the first trade agreement with Development as its key objective. It is deeply disappointing that Ministers believe that agreement would be so difficult that they are not planning to give it priority at this meeting. Nonetheless governments can still take action which does not require them all to reach agreement. Developed nations can and should individually decide to open up their markets unconditionally to the Least Developed Countries, giving their exports tariff and quota free entry. Opening markets to the LDCs was supposed to be a key component of the Doha Round and is part of Millennium Development Goal 8. WTO members like the EU, which in theory already give tariff free entry to the poorest countries (through Everything but Arms), should commit to rapidly liberalise their Rules of Origin which remain a significant barrier to entry.”

“Even if only some members signed up to it, an initiative like this would provide the poorest countries right now with a real opportunity to trade out of poverty. And it would represent no ‘threat’ to the industries of the developed nations. After all, the low income countries account for less than one fiftieth of world exports even though they account for a fifth of the world’s population. It would also help reverse the insidious recent trend towards protectionism – the factor which in the 1930s turned a recession into a slump,” the cross-party leaders said.

Clare Short, John Battle, Sir Menzies Campbell, Lord Hastings and Peter Lilley, British Parliamentarians, are Co-Chairs of Trade Out of Poverty, an independent all-party campaign to let the poorest countries prosper through trade.

About Trade Out of Poverty
Trade Out of Poverty is an independent, all-party movement dedicated to one thing: tackling poverty by helping the world’s poorest countries trade their way to a better life for their people. The campaign aims to achieve for trade policy towards developing countries what popular campaigns did to persuade governments to commit to Aid targets and drop Debt burdens. For more information, visit www.tradeoutofpoverty.org

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Contact: Laura Hemrika, Campaign Director, Trade Out of Poverty hemrikal@parliament.uk, +44 (0)791 998 8378