By Jack De Groot
The world's trade ministers meeting in Hong Kong this week carry with them much more than just the aspirations of their own vocal farm lobbies and exporters. The silent hopes of millions of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people will also rest on their shoulders.
Trade, when combined with more and better aid and debt relief, has an enormous role to play in making poverty history. A 1 per cent increase in developing countries' share of world exports could lift 128 million people out of poverty.
But without ministers taking concrete steps towards a substantial overhaul of the global trading system at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong, developing countries will continue to get a raw deal — particularly on agriculture.
We all rely on agriculture to feed us. In the world's poorest countries, seven out of every 10 people also depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Yet nearly 900 million people in these countries do not have enough food to eat and despite being home to 98 per cent of the world's farming population, developing countries capture just a third of agricultural trade.
For too long rich countries have been manipulating international trade rules to protect their own interests.
(For more on this)
No comments:
Post a Comment