NEW YORK, 28 SEP (MARTIN KHOR) -- FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE GROUP OF 77

8:04 AM Sep 30, 1996

NEW YORK, 28 SEP (MARTIN KHOR) -- FOREIGN MINISTERS OF THE GROUP OF 77
trade measures to domestic standards in environment, labour laws and other issues, and warned against overloading the World Trade Organisation's agenda as this would upset the balanced package of the Uruguay Round agreements.

These concerns were voiced in the Ministerial Declaration approved at the 20th annual meeting of the Ministers of the G77 and China in New York on 27 September. The comprehensive 69-point Declaration contains sections on trade, other economic issues, the follow up to the various UN Conferences, UN reform, environment and human rights.

In the section related to trade, the Ministers expressed "grave concern" at the continuing adverse external economic environment for development characterised by increased protectionist tendencies in and unilateral coercive actions by the developed countries.

The Declaration said that the Ministers "rejected the use of disguised protectionist measures in the form of new concepts seeking to link domestic standards relating to environment, labour laws and other issues, through the application of arbitrary trade measures and bilateral pressures against developing countries."

The Declaration added: "The Ministers expressed their concern over attempts to overload the agenda of the nascent WTO, as it could adversely affect the carefully balanced package of rights and obligations negotiated in the context of the Uruguay Round agreements.

"The Ministers cautioned that the introduction of environmental labelling or social clauses in the international trade regime would have a negative impact on economic growth and development, and would impose an unjustifiable economic and social burden on the developing countries.

"They underscored that the essential priority should be the implementation and fulfilment of these agreements and the adoption of measures to mitigate adverse consequences on the developing countries."

The Ministers also underlined that UNCTAD should continue to facilitate the integration of developing countries in the international trading system in a complementary manner with the WTO. They reiterated the need for full implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, including measures to mitigate adverse consequences on the developing countries.

They also stressed that the Final Act confers special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular the LDCs and net food importing countries. The Ministers also emphasised the importance of ensuring the universality of the WTO and called for the expedition in accession process of applying developing countries that are not GATT members.

"They furthermore underscored that in the review of the application for membership, no political consideration should be invoked to impede accession of the developing countries."

On a section on debt, the Declaration regretted that despite several approaches taken in the last decade, the debt crisis persisted as a main constraint to development. The Ministers reiterated the urgent need for creditor countries and international financial institutions to adopt "an effective, comprehensive and equitable, once-and-for-all development-oriented and durable solution to the debt problem."

This, said the Ministers, should include "debt reduction and increased grants and concessional financial flows" especially for LDCs and Africa. They called on the Joint IMF and World Bank meeting in October to produce "definitive action" to address multilateral debts of developing countries. They also stressed that "structural adjustment policies must not divert resources away from social priorities in debtor countries."

Noting that the funding of multilateral financial institutions through various concessional mechanisms have proved insufficient, the Ministers called on donor countries to increase the capital base of the World Bank and IMF and meet their commitments under the eleventh replenishment of IDA (International Development Association).

They also called on developed countries to increase resources for the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the Global Environment Facility, the Structural Adjustment Facility and the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF) and supported ESAF's transformation into a permanent IMF facility.

In a section on UNCTAD, the Declaration welcomed the outcome of UNCTAD-IX that reaffirmed UNCTAD's mandate as the principal organ of the UN General Assembly and the focal point within the UN for the integrated treatment of development and interrelated issues in trade, finance, technology, investment and sustainable development.

"As a universal forum in the service of development, UNCTAD is well-placed to contribute to new and emerging issues,such as investment and enterprise, while continuing to deal with persistent problems. "The Ministers therefore reaffirmed their strong commitment to strengthen UNCTAD and urged the international community to provide UNCTAD with the political and financial support to enable it to fully discharge its mandate."

The Ministers also "welcomed the mandate given to UNCTAD to identify and analyse implications for development of issues relevant to a possible multilateral framework on investment, taking into account the interests of developing countries." They also stressed the need for UNCTAD to assist small island developing states.

In a section on the UN, the Declaration emphasised that the "overall objective of any restructuring and revitalisation should be to place the issue of development at the forefront of the agenda of the UN." The Ministers also emphasised the importance of General Assembly Resoultion 50/227 on revitalisation the UN in the economic and social fields and called for full implementation of its provisions relating to: increasing resources for operational activities for development; establishing new funding modalit ies; reaffirming the distinct roles of ECOSOC and the General Assembly in the economic and social fields; enhancing the role of the GA in policy making; making ECOSOC's substantive session more focused and action- oriented; and enhancing the annual policy dialogue between the UN system and the Bretton Woods institutions.

On the relation between the UN and Bretton Woods instutions, the Ministers "stressed that enhancing collaboration between the UN and the Bretton Woods institutions requires full and effective participation of developing countries in the decision-making processes of these institutions. "They also underlin e that policy dialogue at the intergovernmental level on global macroeconomic policy issues should be an important element in promoting coherance, while encouraging a plurality of analyses and views, on issues related to sustained economic growth and development.

Emphasising that such collaboration should be based on the principles of "neutrality and non-conditionality", the Ministers called for new cooperation mechanisms between the BWI and other UN system bodies, through participation in relevant meetings, information gathering and exchange, research and policy analysis. The Declaration also called on the multilateral financial institutions and WTO to prepare reports on themes such as debt, challenges of global financial integration and the functioning of the trad e system, to enhance discussions at the UNGA and ECOSOC.