§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she will list those Least Developed Countries which are members of the World Trade Organisation; and what progress has been made with the establishment of a fast-track accession process to the WTO. [2289]
§ Nigel GriffithsI have been asked to reply.
Thirty Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are already WTO members. These are Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Haiti, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia. Another nine LDCs are currently negotiating to join the WTO (Bhutan, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Laos, Nepal, Samoa, Sudan, Vanuatu, and Yemen) and are at different stages of the process.
At the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in May 2001, the EU (in a joint statement with US, Canada and Japan), reinforced its support for the expedition of the WTO accession processes for the nine LDCs currently negotiating to join. The statement underlined our interest in streamlining the LDC accession process; seeking reasonable market access commitments; making full use of WTO Provisions for LDCs and strengthening technical assistance and capacity building. I have today placed a copy of the joint EU/Canada/Japan/US statement in the Library of the House.
§ Dr. TongeTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what progress has been made in her Department's commitment to increase its support for WTO capacity building projects. [2288]
§ Clare ShortOur recent White Paper on International Development (Making Globalisation Work for the Poor) commits the Government to doubling their support for trade related capacity building to £30 million over the next three years. A number of initiatives have been taken forward since the publication of the White Paper in December. These include
A £7.5 million bilateral commitment to the Africa Trade and Poverty Programme, to begin this autumn in six countries while a further six countries are identified this summer;A further £1.1 million to provide ongoing support to the Commonwealth Secretariat's Trade and Investment Access facility;A £700,000 bilateral commitment to support trade capacity development in Ghana:A £600,000 commitment to support a development capacity building project focused on trade related intellectual property rights with UNCTAD and the NGO ICTSD (International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development);A further £370,000 to provide ongoing support to the Joint Integrated Technical Assistance Programme (with the WTO, ITC and UNCTAD) which supports a number of East and West African countries on trade policy formulation and implementation;260WA £300,000 commitment with ICTSD to support African countries participation in trade negotiations with a special focus on trade and sustainable development;A £350,000 ($500,000) commitment to support the pilot phase of the enhanced Integrates Framework for least developed countries. We are also working closely with the World bank and other partners to guide this initiative.