§ Helen SouthworthTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will support the right of poor country governments to provide targeted support and protection for their local producers. [91607]
§ Ms HewittFlexibilities for developing countries (with additional flexibilities for the least developed countries) to retain some targeted support and protection for their local producers already exist within all WTO trade defence instruments agreed in the Uruguay Round.
The Government recognise that trade reform can have significant adverse effects on particular sectors and groups, especially in the short-term. This is why it is important that trade reform is accompanied by complementary policies to manage the process of change and integration into the world trading system. This may include some measures to promote indigenous industrial development. But the evidence of the benefits of specific tariff protection is mixed so the Government do not see it as a particularly useful tool to foster economic growth and therefore poverty reduction. Greater protectionism by developing countries limits 926W the opportunities for poor countries to trade both with each other and with developed countries, excluding them further from the benefits of international trade.
The Government also believe that existing WTO agreements should take better account of countries' specific development needs. Therefore, within the current Doha Development Agenda negotiations we support the further development of Special and Differential Treatment provisions to assist developing countries to integrate into the world trading system.