Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva, Shanker D Bairagi, took over the coordinatorship of the body amidst a special function, Friday.[break]
Addressing the handover function, the envoy underlined that the year ahead is challenging as external economic situation is not easy and the scenario in WTO is not much encouraging especially for LDCs.
He stressed the need for working hard to ensure that LDC issues are not sidelined and to remind the WTO community once again that delivering concrete results for the most vulnerable countries is a moral imperative and an obligation emanating from past WTO decisions.
According to Nepal´s mission in Geneva, envoy Bairagi highlighted the important role trade can play in helping LDCs alleviate poverty and achieve prosperity.
“The LDCs Group should continue to pursue the longstanding agendas that include the operationalization of duty-free-quota-free market access for LDCs; simple, transparent and facilitative rules of origin; resolution of cotton issues and operationalization of Services Waiver decision”" he said.
The LDCs Consultative Group is the key forum of LDCs Members and Observers of WTO to discuss and form a common position on all pertinent issues in WTO. Nepal takes over the coordinatorship from Haiti at an important time ahead of the Ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) scheduled to take place in Bali Indonesia in the first week of December 2013.
On the occasion, LDCs delegations congratulated Nepal on being elected as the new LDCs coordinator in WTO and expressed hope that the Nepali delegation will effectively lead the group.
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