LDC exports: the global picture
"LDCs are being bypassed by the process of globalization...[but]
the share of trade in GDP remains relatively high in most LDCs
compared with other developing countries."
United Nations Programme of Action for the least developed
countries
"The terms-of-trade of the LDCs worsened in 1998 and 1999 with a
drop in commodity prices whose breadth and depth has not been seen
since the early 1980s."
UNCTAD Least Developed Countries Report 2000
For a level playing field, implement LDC market access
provisions
"Most important is the compliance with and implementation by the
developed market economies, both in letter and in spirit, of the
various URA and WTO market access provisions for the LDCs to have
an even playing ground to compete internationally."
Akmal Hossain, a trade consultant from Bangladesh,
in the ITC e-Discussion
organized for the BSRT
Going beyond: create export-friendly national
policies
Addressing trade policy alone will not create the necessary
enabling environment for export development. Sound policies
accompanied by a product-specific sectoral action plan to give
impetus to export development will create a conducive atmosphere
for the exporters to perform not only efficiently but
profitably."
Dawa T. Sherpa, Bhutan, in the ITC e-Discussion
"Export taxes on agricultural products [...] penalize peasant
farmers because exporters have to pay the tax at the moment of
taking goods onboard, so they deduct this sum from the price paid
to producers. This reduces the farmers' revenues, therefore
reducing the incentive to produce, whose consequence is a
diminution of agriculture production - and therefore of
exports."
Christiane Leong, Head, Export Support Service, Madagascar
Ministry of
Commerce, in the ITC e-Discussion
"The problem is not that of good policies but of putting the
policies into action."
Emmarita Z. Mijares, Deputy Executive Director, Export
Development Council, Philippines, in the ITC e-Discussion
Quality, risk, commitment: how exporters break the glass
ceiling
"Developing countries need to build a 'quality culture' and to
have better information on quality requirements. Individual
organizations need to come forward and [provide] for cheaper costs
of certification, as my organization is offering for organic
products."
Elena Repetto, Colombia, in the ITC e-Discussion
"Before exporting, you have to produce, and produce well."
Nancy Abeid Arahamane, camel's milk entrepreneur from
Mauritania, in the e-Discussion
"Market access and an export incentive package may help an
enterprise in getting into the export market, but this cannot be
sustained if the products fail to leave an impression on buyers and
the entrepreneur's dealings are not business-like."
Abu Alam Chowdhury, Managing Director and CEO, Conexpo,
handicrafts and giftware exporter, Bangladesh
"An element of risk-taking has to be there. Otherwise no matter
how bright the idea is, it can never be tested and proved."
Dasho Tshewang Penjore, proprietor, Chaharu Tsongdrel, red
rice exporter, Bhutan