PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/212
27 February 2001
(01-0988)
MOORE APPLAUDS FREE ACCESS FOR LDC EXPORTS BY EU
WTO Director-General Mike Moore today welcomed the decision by European Union Trade
Ministers to give the world's forty-eight least-developed countries access to EU markets for all
products except arms by the year 2009.  He said this would substantively improve trading conditions
for the world's poorest nations.
Mr. Moore congratulated Mr. Pascal Lamy, EU Trade Commissioner, for the tangible
contribution to global trade and for firmly placing EU trade policy in the interests of development
concerns. He also hailed the decision as a concrete demonstration of the EU's goodwill in the context
of preparations for a new round of WTO trade negotiations, and preparations for the Third
UN Conference on LDCs to be hosted in Brussels in May this year. Mr. Moore praised the leadership
by Sweden, currently holding the rotating presiden cy of the EU, and expressed appreciation for the
timely intervention of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan.
Mr. Moore noted the European Union decision follows significant measures for improved
market access taken or proposed by many other WTO Members including Canada, Japan, Korea,New Zealand, Norway and the United States.  He expressed hope that other countries will also move
to improve market access within the framework of a new Trade Round.
Mr. Moore has expressed hope that necessary complementary trade-related capacity-building
measures, such as in the Integrated Framework fo r Least-Developed Countries, will be supported by
development partners, including the G-8 countries at their forthcoming Summit, to assist poor
countries to take advantage of improved market access opportunities.
END