24 May 2011
Institutions of global economic governance and emerging international financial architectures should work for equal benefit of all including developing countries, ACP- EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly co-president David Matongo has said.
And the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly has declared that donors should increase the proportion of country aid to develop capacity and ownership among aid recipient countries.
Addressing the justed-ended assembly last week in Budapest, Hungary, Mr Matongo who is Zambia’s Pemba Member of Parliament (MP) said globalisation has heightened anxieties among many developing countries.
“No issue perhaps better illustrate this argument than the failure of the World Trade Organisation international trade regime to agree on the rules that will help move 80 per cent of the world’s population out of poverty,” he said.
He said ACP views with concern the continued stalemate in the Doha Round negotiations and not the significant bearing that has on the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations.
As a way forward, Mr Matongo proposed revising of the issue by eliminating the $400 billion annual agro subsidies by developed countries which choke the products from developing countries.
There is equally need to improve on developing countries’ access to consumers in developed countries and strengthen the differential treatment provisions to allow flexibility.
Mr Matongo said there was also need for the expansion of aid for trade schemes to help least developed countries produce more export, improve skills and efficiency in trade related institution.
“We, therefore, urge all WTO members to recommit themselves to the successful conclusion of the WTO negotiations in line with the development mandate of the Doha Round,” he said.
The conclusion of the EPA negotiations is about four years behind which Mr Matonga said is intolerable and begs for fundamental rethinking.
“I have to put on record that we welcome the recent European Union policy announcements on budget support,” he said.
And according to the declaration dubbed, Budapest Declaration, the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, the delegates called on the donors to take immediate action on their commitments.
They called on donors to uphold their commitment to providing 0.7 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product for development aid and that they should increase the predictability of their aid.
On the role of parliament, the delegates said parliaments in developing countries lack basic capacity to fully exercise their role and called on the donor community to provide assistance.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Continued here:
ACP-EU Joint Parliament Cries for Equal Benefits