|
|
|
| October 23, 2003 | Thursday | Sha’aban 26, 1424 |
Islamabad asks world to realize free markets
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 22: Pakistan has called upon the international community to turn into reality the talks about free markets, trade liberalization and the outcome of Doha Development Round.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s plenary meeting on economic issues, Pakistan’s delegate Akram Zaki said: “The collapse of the trade talks at Cancun is a wake-up call for those who believe that the developing countries would accept persisting trade inequity just by resorting to slogans and symbolism.”
He underscored the importance of the Economic and Social Council as one of the most important organs of the UN vested with the responsibility of contributing towards the promotion of higher standards of living, full employment, and conditions of economic and social progress and development.
These are the sublime ideals set forth for us by the framers of the UN Charter.
During the past one year, the council held a series of useful meetings and discussions at its annual substantive session in Geneva as well as the Spring meeting of the ECOSOC with the Brettonwoods Institutions and the World Trade Organization in the pursuit of these objectives.
He said that while many useful recommendations emerged from these meetings, particularly at the high level segment, which was devoted to evolving an integrated approach to rural development, a lot more needs to be done to make the world a happier dwelling for the poor, underdeveloped and marginalized people.
Mr Zaki underscored the importance of the council’s role to contribute towards creating conditions that would stimulate economic growth and development in the underdeveloped and developing world.
For this purpose, he has suggested a number of important steps to ensure that:
Political commitment exists for achieving the agreed ODA target of 0.7 per cent of the developed countries’ GNP; ambitious efforts are made for debt write-off and debt restructuring not only for the HIPC countries but also for the low-income countries with a high growth and demand potential; required actions are taken for capacity-building and trade growth in the developing countries; and bold political actions are taken to create innovative ways of financing development on concessional terms.—APP
|
|
|
|
