Escap To Implement Agreement On Textiles

Members of the Economic & Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (Escap) have agreed to implement an agreement on textiles and clothing in letter and spirit during its remaining stages, an official press release said yesterday.

At the 53rd session of the commission held at Bangkok recently, commerce minister B B Ramaiah urged the world body to continue its technical assistance to developing countries in support of trade liberalisation, particularly, in the context of multilateralism and the world trade organisation (WTO).

During the meeting, the commission noted Indias concerns over the manner in which the first stage of the agreement on textiles and clothing (ATC) was being implemented and accepted Indias position against overloading the WTO agenda with issues extraneous to trade.

The commission recommended that studies proposed by India on inter-relationships between trade and investment, trade and competition etc, should take account of the development prospective to ensure that it did exacerbate poverty and further marginalise vulnerable groups.

The Indian suggestion that although diffusion of environmental management systems like ISO-14000 should be adopted on a voluntary basis and should not be mandatory, thus becoming a non-tariff barrier, was also accepted by the commission, the release said.

Indias plea that since Escap had 62 per cent of the world population characterised by unique problems like poverty and under development, therefore, outright down-sizing of Escap was not called for, was by and large endorsed by a large number of member states.