The UN Conference on Trade and Development has launched a round of talks to expand south-south trade relations between developing nations within the framework of the World Trade Organization.
After announcing the trade talks, Argentina's Economy Minister, Roberto Lavagna, said on Thursday that he hoped 40 additional developing countries would join the negotiations for the General System of Trade Preferences, which currently involve 43 countries.
As the largest of the Group of 77 developing UNCTAD-member nations, China said it would consider the invitation to take part in the talks.
"We give great importance to south-south trade," said Li Enheng, China's deputy permanent representative at the Geneva-based WTO.
The Chinese delegation, he told the five-day, 11th UNCTAD conference begun here Monday, will "advise the government of China to study seriously and carefully" the invitation to engage on the General System of Trade Preferences.
Created in 1989, the GSTP never achieved its goal of stimulating south-south trade by lowering tariffs between developing nations. By relaunching the talks, UNCTAD hopes to take advantage of new alliances between developing nations and their greater prominence on the international stage.
According to WTO figures, south-south trade increased 200 percent in the 1990s, accounting for 12 percent of total world trade.
However, developing nations still face higher tariffs when exporting to other developing nations than to rich countries -- 70 percent of all tariffs paid by developing countries go to other developing countries.
On Wednesday, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni charged that major developing countries such as India, Brazil and China were denying poorer countries access to their markets just as rich countries do.
He said he addressed the issue on a recent visit to China, which has a zero tariff on unroasted coffee but a 53 percent tariff for processed coffee.
"Africa has been standing with China for a long time and China was standing with us. They supported us in the anti-colonial movement, when we were fighting the colonialists, they gave us weapons.
"But the issue of trade ... has not been addressed. The Chinese leaders have told us that they are going to address it," Museveni added.Agence France Presse:
