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Govt urged to open discussion on WTO issues in parliament

Star Business Report
Equity and Justice Working Group (EJWG), a forum of nongovernment and civil society organisations, yesterday called upon the government to initiate open discussion in parliament for outlining Bangladesh's position at the forthcoming WTO Ministerial in Geneva.
“The government should take decision based on open discussion. We want the government to raise the WTO-related issues in parliament,” said Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, convener of EJWG, at a press conference in Dhaka.
The EJWG, which campaigns for economic justice, raised the issue after trade ministers of about 36 nations concluded talks in New Delhi early this month, affirming the need to complete the eight-year-old Doha Round expeditiously by 2010.
The informal Delhi ministerial meeting called upon top negotiators to meet in Geneva this week to draw up a process of engagement for the next two to three months.
The meeting also called for works with the chairs of the negotiating groups to prepare an overall agenda of action ahead of the seventh WTO Ministerial Summit scheduled to begin in Geneva on November 30 this year.
Rezaul said the two-day Delhi meet brought together trade ministers of the biggest players such as the United States, die EU, Brazil and China and other key WTO members.
"But unfortunately Bangladesh did not receive invitation for attending the meeting although it plays a leading role to raise concerns of die least- developed countries (LDCs),” he said.
"We felt embarrassed for not getting any invitation from our neighbour India," said Rezaul, blaming the Bangladesh government and the role of Geneva mission for not winning an invitation for attending die Delhi ministerial meeting.
In absence of Bangladesh at the Delhi meeting, the LDCs' one of the major demands -- movement of natural persons to facilitate manpower export -- was not raised at all, the EJWG said.
The forum said the issue of duty- and quota-free market access for LDCs was raised in a low voice.
"We will lose much in die upcoming WTO ministerial talks unless we can strongly raise our demands for duty- and quota-free access and movement of natural persons,” said Rezaul.
The commerce ministry had earlier announced that Bangladesh would negotiate at die ministerial for attaining duty- and quota-free access for its major exportable products to rich economies.
The EJWG suggested the government should take a strong leadership role in favour of LDCs' concerns and demands.