LDCs make poor progress despite Doha Dev Round

Published November 23, 2014 · Updated September 24, 2022

CPD organises a dialogue on Recapturing the Momentum; the Post-Bali Process of the WTO at Lakeshore Hotel in city on Saturday. CPD Fellow Dr Debapriya Bhattachariya speaking the dialogue.

Staff Reporter :A poor progress was made by the least development countries (LDC), including Bangladesh, despite passing of twelve years of the initiative of Doha Development Round (DDR) package under the World Trade Organization’s special programme.The LDC countries should have taken multilateral trading system with the emphasis on proper logistic support and utility services to fulfill the goal of DDR package.Dr Devpriya Bhattacharya, Director of Research at the Overseas Development Institute of the Center for Police Dialogue (CPD), disclosed this at a discussion programme titled ‘Recapturing the Momentum in the Post-Bali Process of the WTO’ in the city’s Lakeshore Hotel on Saturday afternoon. If the countries fail to take proper policy in agro and non-agro sectors to compare with the world developed countries, the nations would loss their contribution to the new development policy, he said.”Bangladesh apparels sector achieved only 0.5% of the total export to the US Generalized Preferences of System (GSP) scheme in 2013. But the duties imposed at import stage on the country was about US dollar 750 million during the period,” Dr Devpriya said.He said that most of the DDR policies have not been implemented in the LDC counties due to limited sector-based commercial policies comparing the global market policy. The US, China and India recently have deeply observed the utility of the Bali programme over the DDR policies, which would help the LDC countries to implement their goal, opined Dr Devpriya. The CDP Executive Director Professor Mustafizur Rahamn, in his written speech, said that the LDCs would be engaged in multi-sectored trading system to progress the present DDR condition.The countries must be ensured the business negotiation, monitoring, duty free and quota-free market excess with the bilateral and multilateral business policies, he said.The DDR package was taken in 2012 in Doha of Qatar. The last evolution programme also took place in Bali in December, 2013, said a CPD written statement. The CDP founding President Professor Rehman Sobhan, European University Institute’s Bernard Hoekman, among others, were present.