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..Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 12
May 2005
Press Release No: G/10/2005
POOR COUNTRIES APPEAL FOR EASY CROSS-BORDER
SERVICES
BANGKOK (United Nations Information Services)
-- The movement of labour for cross-border supply of services
especially among the low-skilled should be facilitated as this
leads to economic growth and benefits the poor. The appeal came
from least developed and landlocked countries attending an UNESCAP
meeting ahead of its 61st Commission Session in Bangkok (May
12-18th).
The countries also called for “meaningful
commitments” from countries affected and requested UNESCAP
to study how to facilitate the intra- and inter-regional movement
of labour.
UNESCAP Executive Secretary Mr. Kim Hak-Su called
for a more effective partnership on aid, debt relief and trade,
especially at the regional level and urged both developed and
developing countries to reiterate their commitments towards
assisting the 14 least developed countries in the region.
Other items on the agenda included greater market
access for exports from these countries, more generous aid to
countries committed to poverty reduction and debt relief for
the highly indebted poor countries. A low savings rate is one
of the key obstructions to sustained socio-economic growth in
the least developed and land-locked countries.
UNESCAP’s Special Body on Least Developed
and Landlocked Developing Countries (May 9-11) were urged to
focus on mainstreaming trade into overall development plans
and to undertake social impact assessments of various trade
liberalization options.
Information, Communication and Technology (ICT)
strategies and policy frameworks need to be developed, the Governments
agreed, and requested UNESCAP to conduct systematic research
on country specific challenges.
Mr. Anwarul Chowdhury, UN High Representative
for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries
and Small Island Developing States, noted that the number of
people living in least developed countries was expected to rise
from 11.5 per cent of the world’s population to 13.1 per
cent of the global population by 2015, and many of these people
would still be living in poverty.
He proposed a preferential scheme similar to the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) could be extended
to the least developed countries in Asia and the Pacific to
enhance market access and boost trade opportunities.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. David Lazarus, Chief
United Nations Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-69; Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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