UN Trade Agency Chief Warns Against New Waves of Protectionism

Doho - The head of the UN Trade and Development Organization (UNCTAD) says developing countries are playing a greater role in the global economy and they should push for a successful resolution to the six-year-old talks to revise free trade rules, known as the Doha round of negotiations.

Supachai Panitchpakdi spoke in Geneva, ahead of the April meeting of UNCTAD, which will take place in Accra, Ghana.

"Exports coming from developing countries now amount to at least one third of the global export and the rate of expansion has been quite rapid. We can also witness that for the first time developing countries as a whole begin to experience surplus in their capital accounts, and so much so that quite a number of developing countries are now beginning to export capitals to the more advanced economies."

Mr. Supachai said that at the Accra talks, the South will have to be taken more seriously, especially as its funds are helping to solve the global economic downturn caused by the US sub-prime loan crisis. But he warned against new forms of protectionism that are on the rise as a result of the threat of recession. Such limits on imports by the rich countries, he says, would impair the ability of the poorest nations to compete in the global marketplace.