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Market access for poor nations imperative: WTO

BANGKOK: World Trade Organisation chiefMike Moore said on Wednesday that giving poorer countriesbetter access to rich country markets was a "moral as well aseconomic imperative".

Moore told delegates from some 140 UNCTAD-member countriesthat he had been disappointed a Seattle meeting of WTOministers in December had failed to finalise a deal on removingall tariffs for goods from 48 Least Developed Countries byricher powers.

He pledged to pursue this and hoped to report on itsprogress by April.

He was speaking at a summit of the U.N. trade developmentagency, UNCTAD, where Thai officials mounted special securityprecautions after an anonymous threat was made against Moore, aformer New Zealand prime minister.

The United States, European Union and Japan, the world'stop three trading powers, have all said they are consideringthe deal and assert they are already granting duty free accessto essentially all goods from LDCs.

But leaders of these countries, most of them in Africa, saythat products excluded are in fact their major exports.

Security was tightened at the conference venue as policechecked all bags carried by delegates and journalists. Trafficwas rerouted causing traffic jams in the capital city.

A conference official said security was boosted as a"serious threat" had been made against Moore and it was "morethan throwing a cake against him".

On Sunday, an activist attacked the International MonetaryFund's outgoing managing director, Michel Camdessus, in theconference lobby and pushed a cream pie into his face.

Moore told delegates that he recognised the WTO was notperfect and that changes would have to be made. He said itsrules and practices had been shaped at a time when there wereonly 30-40 members, whereas there were now 135.

BETTER AND FAIRER FOR POOR AND RICH

"We must make this system better and fairer for the poor aswell as for the rich," he said. "If countries are to move outof poverty, markets must be opened for them.-Reuters