Egypt, developing nations gain a lot from WTO meetings in Doha

Egyptian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Youssef Boutros Ghali, who led Egypt delegation to the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial meetings in Doha, said the developing countries managed to gain a lot from the conference which wrapped up last Wednesday.

In statements made yesterday, Ghali said that the agreement of the 144 WTO member-states to gradually slash subsidy on agricultural products as a prelude to cancel them completely within 14 years, will help boost the Egyptian exports which already enjoy a competitive edge in the European markets.

Ghali said that it has been agreed for the first time to define the meaning of "preferential status", an article that has been inserted into the WTO agreements which previously denied developing nations access to technical and financial assistance as well as easy access to the advanced nations' markets.

The developing countries, led by Egypt, managed to press the advanced countries in the field drug availability within the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreements.

'This secured the developing countries the right to import drugs from the countries which sell them at cheaper price without having to obtain a prior permission from the patented companies,' added Ghali.

'Egypt inserted new topics for the first time into the debate agenda , such as the relation between trade and technology transfer in order to procure more gains for the developing countries,' he remarked.

Egypt, that one of the 20 countries which undertook ironing out the differences between the WTO member-states, vehemently resisted the European Union's demand to prevent the implementation of the so-called "environmental reserve which gives any state the right to deny any commodity access to its markets on allegation of being short of environmental requirements.