Bangladeshi women gained from US textile quota cuts

They will discuss how to get a better deal for poor countries when the next ministerial-level meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) takes place in Mexico in September.

The conference will focus on how to improve access to the richer nations' export markets, as well as environmental issues and intellectual property rights, particularly on medicines.

The conference, in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, plans to draw up a closing declaration to take to the WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico.

Market access

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia is to address the conference, which will be attended by at least 23 trade ministers.

"Many proposals are there and being discussed and Bangladesh, as the co-ordinator, will try to take the agenda forward," said Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury.

WTO talks on farm produce in March 2003 ended in an acrimonious four-way row between rich and poor nations and the US and European Union over cuts in farmers' subsidies and import quotas.

Better access to developed countries' markets is top priority for many poor countries, which want to see quotas and tariffs lifted.

"We need market access more than anything else as the more the trade, the less the dependence on foreign aid," Mr Chowdhury said, citing the example of Bangladesh's textile industry.

Getting an edge

He said the garment industry has "flourished just because of quota free access to the United States and Europe...it helped empower women (workers) as well as bring in huge foreign exchange".

The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) also accuse industrialised countries of dumping goods onto developing markets and stunting their growth.

Mr Chowdhury said the meeting's aim was to hammer out views on the priority topics to give poor countries "an edge at the Cancun meeting".