The heads of four UN agencies working in the field of trade and development yesterday renewed their support for trade as the best way to tackle world poverty.

Speaking at a specially convened session of the UNDP Executive Board in Geneva, Mark Malloch-Brown of UNDP, Mike Moore of WTO, Carlos Fortin of UNCTAD and J. Denis Bélisle of ITC called for more funding and collaboration for enabling countries to integrate better into the global trading system.

At the heart of this is the Integrated Framework, which seeks to mainstream trade in national development strategies and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. In order to streamline the process, the WTO is establishing a database of all trade-related technical assistance programme carried out by the participating agencies.

Among the issues discussed at the meeting were the need to increase training programmes for trade diplomacy, which is currently being addressed through courses at the universities of Nairobi and Casablanca, and a need for stronger links between trade negotiators and productive sectors through private-public partnerships.

The difficulties faced by LDCs, both at home and at the international level, in integrating into the global economy, were also discussed, as well as policies aimed at increasing market access and reaching a fair price for commodities, which still form a large part of many LDCs' exports. Mr. Fortin, stated his preference for growth over redistribution in tackling poverty.

Mr. Moore highlighted the need for an increase in market access for developed and developing countries, to increase the size of the world economy and pointed out that tariff structures were unfairly skewed against the interests of textile-exporting countries. And at a question and answer session afterwards, he accepted that efforts at aimed at helping small-island, land-locked and least-developed countries to participate more actively at the WTO would always be hampered both by national capacities and the funding the body receives.

The heads of UNCTAD and UNDP also took the opportunity to reaffirm their support for collaboration in trade and sustainable development through the joint framework of the UNCTAD/UNDP Global Programme, established by the two organisations in 1998.

For more information please contact Georges Chapelier.

Click here to go to the meeting page.