Addressing the meeting convened to handover the Coordinatorship, Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, WTO and other International Organizations in Geneva, Shanker D. Bairagi, thanked LDCs delegations for the trust and goodwill shown to Nepal.[break]
The Ambassador underlined that the year ahead was challenging as external economic situation is not easy and the scenario in the WTO is not much encouraging especially for the LDCs.
He stressed on the need of working hard to ensure that LDC issues are not sidelined and to remind the WTO community once again that delivering concrete results for the most vulnerable countries is a moral imperative and an obligation emanating from past WTO decisions.
Bairagi emphasized that the LDCs Group should continue to pursue the longstanding agendas that include the operation of duty-free-quota-free market access for LDCs; simple, transparent and facilitative rules of origin; resolution of cotton issues and operation of Services Waiver decision.
The Permanent Representative stated that the LDCs are bound together by common characteristics of vulnerability and being in special need of external support measures to be able to trade and develop. He underscored the importance of solidarity and common voice of the Group to advance LDCs´ common issues.
LDCs delegations congratulated Nepal on being elected as the new LDCs Coordinator in WTO and expressed hope that the Nepalese delegation will effectively lead the Group.
The LDCs Consultative Group is the key forum of LDCs Members and Observers of WTO to discuss and form a common position on all pertinent issues in WTO. Nepal takes over the Coordinatorship from Haiti at an important time ahead of the Ninth Ministerial Conference (MC9) scheduled to take place in Bali Indonesia in the first week of December 2013.
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