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EBRD: WTO trade round good news for emerging economies
On the occasion of the World Trade Organisation meeting in Doha, Qatar, Jean Lemierre, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, issued the following statement:
"The successful outcome of the WTO meeting in Doha is of great importance for the promotion of global trade and economic growth. The recent deterioration of the world economic outlook has raised even further the relevance of the meeting because of what a new round of trade negotiations signifies for global recovery and market confidence. An important objective of the new round should be that transition countries and developing economies achieve unrestricted access to the markets of the most developed economies.
"The opening of markets will bring significant benefits to developing and transition economies. The importance of trade creation has been evident in the economies of central and eastern Europe and the CIS. Most of these countries, previously under central planning and subjected to politically motivated trade flows, have been able to make impressive progress in creating an open trading regime, thus contributing to a sustained improvement in their standard of living. Some of the countries of central and eastern Europe have been able to increase trade by a factor of three in 10 years. So far 13 of the EBRD's 27 countries of operation have become full members of the WTO, and many others are close to negotiating their accession.
"Over the past decade the EBRD has been the main institutional investor in central and eastern Europe and the CIS. Many of the investments of the EBRD have been focused on the removal of constraints in the physical and financial infrastructure for domestic and international trade. In the context of the new trade round, the EBRD will strengthen its efforts to facilitate trade."
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