President Buhari Seeks Preferential Market Access for Least Developed Countries

By Dare Akogun
President Muhammadu Buhari has canvassed for duty-free and quota-free market access for products originating from the world’s 46 least-developed countries to ensure their integration into regional and global value chains.
Speaking in Doha, the capital of Qatar at the United Nations (UN) Conference of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the President strongly criticized the current structure of the global financial system which places an unsustainable external debt burden on the most vulnerable countries.
He warned that such debt burdens would make it extremely difficult for LDCs to meet the 2030 Agenda for 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“The possibility of achieving the SDGs remains bleak for many countries, particularly, the Least Developed Countries…Hence the need for urgent and robust assistance to help unlock their potential and build socio-economic resilience.
“As a matter of urgency, there are a number of priorities we have to focus on to help achieve the SDGs in these countries and ensure their prosperity,” Buhari said.
The President said policy and budgetary provisions must be made to ensure equal access to medicare and vaccines, for both the poor and the rich.
He underscored the need for reforms of the unfair debt architecture that not only charges poor countries much more money to borrow on the market than advanced economies, but downgrades them when they even think of restructuring their debt or applying for debt relief.
Buhari challenged developed countries, civil society actors, the private sector and the business community to partner with the LDCs in order to provide the necessary resources and capacity to deliver development outcomes in the economic, social and environmental aspects of the 2030 Agenda.
On Nigeria’s expectation for the Conference, the President expressed optimism that the Doha Programme of Action would lead to the acceleration of exports from LDCs by 2031, through the facilitation of their access to foreign markets in line with the World Trade Organisation Facilitation Agreement.