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G77 plus China ministerial meeting highlights Doha Round talk

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-04-21 09:41

The Group of 77 (G77) plus China ministerial meeting, held in Ghana's capital of Accra on Sunday, put much emphasis on impasse of Doha Round talk and recent spreading of subprime financial and credit crisis, as learnt from the ministerial declaration of the meeting.

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"We are particularly concerned that the Doha Round negotiations in the WTO so far have not met the expectations of developing countries. All WTO members should uphold and reiterate their commitment for the WTO to promote an open, equitable, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory and development-friendly multilateral trading system," said the statement.

It said the Doha Round should bring about improvements in multilateral rules that address and remove existing asymmetries and enhance the fairness and equity of the multilateral trading system, and must eliminate all forms of export subsidies.

"We urge those developed countries to expeditiously complete, as far as cotton is concerned, the elimination of both export subsidies and production-related domestic supports, particularly with a view to fully addressing the concerns of cotton producers in Africa," it added.

As for the subprime crisis, the statement also expressed concerns, saying that the recent financial market instability might have negative impacts on the development prospects of developing countries.

The statement called on establishing a new international financial architecture which guarantees the full participation of developing countries.

The ministerial meeting in Accra was held before the 12th session of the United Nations Conference of Trade and Development, in which globalization and development issues will be attached much emphasis.