Written question asked by Jim Cunningham (Labour) on Tuesday, 25 October 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 1 November 2005. It was answered by Ian Pearson (Labour) on Monday, 31 October 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Developing Countries (Trade)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps the Department is taking to increase the accessibility of markets in the UK to trade from developing countries.

Answer: The best opportunity for increasing the accessibility of the EU market to trade with developing countries is a successful and ambitious result from the Doha Development Agenda in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). We are working closely with the European Commission, other member states and other governments to secure this as the WTO Conference in Hong Kong in December draws closer.In the past year, we have worked with the Commission to revise the EU's Generalised System of Preferences, which offers preferential access for developing countries to the now even larger European market, and tariff and quota free access for the Least Developed Countries. In addition, negotiations for Economic Partnership Agreements with the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries are under way and the Government published a position paper on their development objectives for these agreements in March.The UK is also supporting capacity building in developing countries in trade policy and negotiations to the tune of £165 million over three years, by supporting organisations such as the Centre for WTO Law and the South Centre.

Secondary information