51吃瓜

H.E. Mr Samheng Bora, Secretary of State, Government of Cambodia
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

My Office is very pleased to organize this consultation jointly with WTO, ESCAP and EIF.

I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person due to conflicting commitments. 

Excellencies, 

We meet at a critical time. 

Multiple and overlapping crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, especially the war in Ukraine, and climate change are having severe and disproportionate impact on the LDCs. 

The World Bank projects a sharp and long-lasting slowdown of the global economy, with growth declining to 1.7 percent in 2023. 

This essentially means that global economic activity is going to fall even further below the pre-pandemic level. 

Global trade is also likely to slow down sharply. 

Despite the huge challenges we saw in 2020, international trade started rebounding in 2021; and that continued during the first half of 2022. 

The export of goods from LDCs in 2021 amounted to US$ 229 billion, representing a 27 percent increase from the previous year.  

The Asia-Pacific LDCs however, did not fare that well. With around $90 billion of exports in 2021, the region experienced a 16 per cent growth compared to 2020.  

Now, once again, global trade faces difficult headwinds. 

Export restrictions, inflation, rising energy costs, volatility in financial markets, and disruptions in value chains and transport – are exacerbating the situation. 

Small Island LDCs in particular, are facing continued difficulties due to unprecedented disruptions in the tourism industry. 

Distinguished Colleagues,

The Doha Programme of Action for LDCs for the decade 2022-31 sets an ambitious agenda, that can serve as an accelerator to promote LDCs’ trade. 

Let me highlight six key targets and commitments from the Programme which can significantly contribute to enhancing trade and global competitiveness of the LDCs.  

First: ensuring full and expeditious implementation of the decisions of the WTO Ministerial Conferences pertinent to the LDCs.

Second:  increasing the exports of least developed countries, with a view to doubling their share of global exports by 2031. 

Third: increasing aid for trade support to LDCs, aiming to double it by 2031. 

Fourth: fully implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and providing capacity-building support to LDCs.

Fifth: increasing the participation of LDCs in e-commerce by strengthening ICT infrastructure and building their human and institutional capacities.

Finally: enabling 15 additional LDCs to meet the criteria for graduation by 2031, as well as adopting specific measures to support recently graduated countries. 
The subject of graduation has now come to the mainstream of the global development discourses. 

This is crucial as 16 countries, more than one third of the total LDCs, are now on graduation track. 

10 of the 16 are from the Asia-Pacific region.

The graduation of these countries can be a gamechanger for them and for the region.  It is imperative to take concerted and coherent global actions to support these countries to secure a sustainable and irreversible graduation journey. 

Allow me to share a few specific thoughts in this regard :

First: it is pivotal for the graduating countries to develop comprehensive transition strategies built through evidence-based analysis, multi-stakeholder consultation, and enhanced engagements with development and trade partners. 

International trade is likely to face major setbacks due to loss of LDC-specific support measures. 

Appropriate policies and measures need to be in place to safeguard the sectors that are highly sensitive to the erosion of special and preferential treatments. 

Second: Greater efforts are needed to diversify products and markets, both horizontal and vertical. 

Equally important is to gain access to trade finance and strengthen trade facilitation. 

We are encouraged by the G20 commitment to reinforce international trade and investment cooperation, to address supply chain issues and avoid trade disruptions.

Third: The Group of LDCs have already placed their proposals for the extension of LDC-specific special and preferential treatments in the WTO. 

These proposals warrant a review and favorable consideration by the international community, especially in the current context of cascading global crises. 

Fourth: Graduating countries need to engage with their key development and trading partners to negotiate extensions of LDC-specific preferential treatments.  

This extension should be given for a fixed period and in a predictable manner commensurate with the needs and priorities of the LDCs . 

Finally: The DPOA recognizes the importance of maintaining support to graduating and graduated countries to ensure continued and sustainable development. 

It facilitated the launch of the Sustainable Graduation Support Facility (iGRAD). 

This is an important inter-agency support mechanism led by my Office to support countries on the graduation track.  

We are extending needs-based support to graduating countries through IATF, including for developing their smooth transition strategies. 

Distinguished Delegates,

The LDCs can gain significantly if DPOA is implemented fully, including by taking full advantage of the multilateral trading system under the WTO. 

We have established a new partnership with the WTO, to support the implementation of trade-related goals and targets for the 46 most vulnerable countries. 

The MOU between us lays out the specific areas of support to be extended to LDCs in a collaborative manner. 

As part of our joint efforts, we have commissioned a study, on “Digital Trade Opportunities and Challenges” which has been shared with you. 

The study provides important perspectives that will help LDCs on e-commerce and digital trade. 

Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates and Colleagues,

In less than 5 weeks’ time, we will be in Doha for the Fifth UN Conference of the LDCs, with the POA already agreed upon by the international community by consensus.  

It represents the strong solidarity and commitment of the international community to the LDCs.  

What is important now is to ensure that these commitments, goals and targets are translated into real actions and initiatives.  

That is our message to the LDC leaders and to the development and trading partners of the LDCs.  We want them to come to Doha with concrete commitments.  

My Office shall invest every effort and resource to translate the goals and targets of the DPOA into concrete actions and deliverables. 

I look forward to a fruitful discussion here. 

Your recommendations will be an important contribution to the LDC5 Conference in Doha in March 2023.  

I look forward to meeting many of you there. 

I thank you.