§ Lord Moynihanasked Her Majesty's Government:
How the new round of World Trade Organisation trade talks, launched at the Doha Ministerial Meeting in November 2001, will be used to draw the poorest countries into the global economy; to increase their access to modern knowledge and technology; and to make progress towards the elimination of extreme poverty. [HL3444]
158WA
§ The Minister for Trade (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)The Doha Development Agenda (DDA), launched at the 4th Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Doha, will be a development focused trade round and has the potential to make a significant contribution to poverty reduction in developing countries. According to World Bank figures, the continued opening of markets to trade could lift an additional 300 million people out of poverty, helping make the millennium development goals on poverty reduction a reality. Increasing trade between countries will also increase the flow of investment, goods and services, helping to ensure that developing countries benefit from the advances in modern knowledge and technology.
To ensure that the poorest countries also benefit from participation in the global economy, the WTO has agreed a work programme for the least developed countries (LDCs) which, among other things, will look at participation of LDCs in the multilateral trading system.