The UAE is among the developed countries in the WTO

Abu Dhabi 29-07-2019
The Ministry of Economy confirmed that the two proposals made by the United States of America in the World Trade Organization (WTO) that “States can not declare themselves as developing countries so as not to use the flexibilities granted to developing and least developed countries under the provisions of the FAO conventions under the so-called special treatment “It will not affect the current state’s obligations and interests in the World Trade Organization. It will not stand against this decision if it receives the approval of all the member states of the Organization as required by the regime and will support any approach agreed upon by the group of developing countries. In the World Trade Organization.
The Ministry of Economy – in an explanatory statement obtained by the Emirates Press Agency in response to press reports indicating the possibility of the UAE being affected in this step – that the special treatment and preferential treatment in the organization usually refers to a category of legal texts in the current conventions that give developing countries, on the one hand Flexibility in the implementation of obligations and, on the other hand, gave developed countries the right to treat developing countries in a preferential manner. The texts of special and differential treatment were usually included in four categories: long periods of implementation of conventions and obligations, And WTO provisions that require all WTO members to take into account the trade interests of developing countries, support to help developing countries build the infrastructure of the Organization’s work, address conflicts and implement technical standards.
According to the United States proposal, the inability to distinguish between member states as developing or non-developing countries puts the WTO negotiations on the path of failure, and represents a continuation of the lack of institutional work of the organization which would put the organization in a deficit position before negotiating in disciplines To meet the challenges of today or tomorrow.
She pointed out that the American proposal is about the criteria that distinguish some developing countries from access to special and differential treatment, rather than being a developing country, stressing that according to the criteria included in the proposal, the UAE is classified outside the list of countries that get the flexibilities available in special treatment and preferential treatment In the Organization.
The Ministry of Economy attributed the reasons why the UAE was not affected by this proposal in the event of its acknowledgment that the State has completed scheduling its obligations on the side of goods and services since 1996, on the grounds that the State basically believes in the principle of trade liberalization. The UAE is a central trading center in the region and globally. Therefore, benefiting from the flexibility related to measures aimed at increasing the trade opportunities of developing countries is something the UAE does not need in the first place because it was able to The country is also one of the most active countries in the region when it comes to trade, and there are many countries have business interests with the UAE because of the state of the advanced infrastructure that made it a starting point for goods that arrive To the Middle East and Africa, so the principle of taking into account the commercial interests of developing countries is not of great importance to the state by virtue of its status as a vital trade center in the region .. The state can benefit from technical support programs in all areas through self-financing, Technical support for the members of the organization is important but will not pose a problem for the state being able to fund those programs.