Minister Chand underscores importance of transit access to sea

Kathmandu / June 23: Minister of Commerce Jayant Chand today addressed the Fifth Meeting of Trade Ministers of Landlocked Developing Countries organized by UN-OHRLLS and WTO in Geneva from 23 to 24 June 2016. The theme of the this Ministerial Meeting is ‘Harnessing the trade potential of the LLDCs to implement the Vienna Program of Action for LLDCs and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’.

In his statement, Minister Chand highlighted that Vienna Plan of Action and 2030 SDGs have addressed the special development needs and challenges of the LLDCs in the spirit of leaving no one behind. He stressed on the need to mainstream the priority areas of the VPOA in line with the 2030 SDGs, the Permanent Mission of Nepal to the United Nations and Other International Organisations in Geneva stated in a press release today.

While acknowledging trade as an enabler of sustainable development, poverty reduction and sustained economic growth, Minister Chand pointed to the various geographical, physical and structural constraints faced by LLDCs which have impeded their share in the global trade which is around 1.2 percent currently.

In this context, Minister Chand underscored the importance of unfettered and unhampered transit access to the nearest sea for the LLDCs. He demanded that transit rights of LLDCs be respected in all situations.

Highlighting the role of Trade Facilitation Agreement reached in WTO in 2013 for facilitating transit issues, especially for LLDCs, he emphasized also on the need to invest more on modern transport infrastructure network and to ensure multimodal bilateral and regional transport connectivity.

Referring to the damage of the economy of Nepal by the earthquakes last year, he expressed that building resilience is important for countries like Nepal. He thanked the international community for the solidarity and support in the aftermath of the earthquakes.

He called for north-south, south–south and triangular cooperation, as well as enhanced and strengthened global partnership for transfer of technology, finance, ideas and knowhow which are essential to implement all globally agreed development goals including VPOA and SDGs. He also appealed for comprehensive, coordinated and coherent policy initiatives at the global, regional and local levels. RSS