U.S. gives $1 million to help WTO’s poorest country members

U.S. gives $1 million to help WTO’s poorest country members    The United States has contributed about $1 million this year to help developing countries participating in the World Trade Organization’s Doha Development Agenda (DDA) negotiations.
   “Developing countries have a critical role to play in these negotiations, and it is our hope and expectation that this money will be used, among other things, to help developing countries participate in the market access-related aspects of the DDA negotiations, including with respect to the preparation of service requests and offers and negotiations on trade facilitation,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Portman in a May 17 statement.
   The $1 million contribution brings the level of U.S. assistance to the WTO to about $5 million since the start of the Doha round in November 2001.
   The World Bank estimates that nearly two-thirds of the global annual income gains from the worldwide elimination of barriers to goods trade would go to middle- and low-income countries, or $539 billion out of a total of $832 billion.