Cuba demanded a differentiated international trade for the South

Addis Ababa, Jul 24 (RHC) For Cuba, an open, transparent, inclusive and differentiated international trade for the countries of the South would be an important source for financing development, an official source said today.

This was stated by Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Elio Rodríguez while speaking at the round table “International trade as an engine for development” of the First Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, which will be in session until July 26.

Rodríguez warned that “the fall in exports, the instability of commodity prices, unilateral trade restrictive measures and discriminatory tariffs hinder the ability of many of our countries to diversify our trade activity and, therefore, our economies.

In this regard, it is necessary to reform international value chains, which are generally controlled by transnational corporations, to enable developing nations to achieve a greater degree of industrialization of their products, he said.

He considered that, in terms of financing, the confidence to be generated must begin with a real political will to turn trade into an engine for development, and not a means to feed the coffers of market-grabbing transnationals that control prices at the global level and operate, on occasions, with the complicity of governments.

For a successful conclusion of the Doha Development Round, launched in 2001, its results must significantly redress the imbalances and inequalities in the multilateral trading system in favor of greater integration of developing countries in international trade, as well as greater access to world markets for exports from the South, he stressed.

“Measures adopted to combat climate change, including unilateral ones, should not constitute a means of arbitrary or unjustifiable discrimination or a disguised restriction on international trade,” he stressed.

On Cuba’s behalf, the Rodriguez rejected the application of unilateral coercive economic measures, incompatible with international law and the United Nations Charter.

These illegal and inhumane measures prevent our countries from entering international markets, including commodity markets, under equal conditions, in a fair and inclusive manner, he concluded. (Source: Prensa Latina)