Trade Minister calls for unified demands of developing countries

CAIRO - 11 December 2017: "Arab, African and developing countries should stress on prioritizing issues that serve their demands," Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil said Monday.

Kabil made the statements during his speech at the ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) taking place in Argentina's Buenos Aires.

The minister stressed on the need to have a fair and transparent trade system with sufficient guarantees to benefit free trade between developing and developed countries.

In another statement earlier this week, Kabil said that Egypt and other developing countries, that are net food importers, are not welcoming negotiations on agriculture subsidies they offer, adding that any negotiations should give importing countries the needed flexibility to protect its food security.

Egypt ratified the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement that is expected to double Egypt’s exports to international markets and reduce trade costs in developing countries by 14 percent.

Under the agreement, procedures and regulations of trade flow will be improved. It also obliges all WTO members to ease procedures to increase exports of small businesses and enlarge the involvement of developing counties in global value chains.