WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero brought to the Singapore ministerial meeting the suggestion that developed countries commit to reducing to zero tariffs on products from least developed countries (LDCs), while developing countries would voluntarily bring down tariffs on LDC imports as they see fit. It was a plan he originally had aired at the summit meeting last June of the Group of 7 leading industrialized countries.
While stating that they wanted to do something for the LDCs, several countries, including the US and Japan, nevertheless balked at Mr. Ruggiero's proposal. They cited domestic legal entanglements and the complications of establishing preferential tariff rates within the WTO, although concern about protecting their own domestic industries, such as textiles, from cheap foreign competition also played a part in their position.
In the end, the ministers adopted a separate declaration on LDCs, containing a list of voluntary measures that WTO members might take on their behalf. More concretely, the main ministerial declaration calls for a meeting between the WTO, UNCTAD, aid agencies and international financial institutions and LDC governments "as soon as possible in 1997" to develop an "integrated approach" to enhancing LDC trading opportunities.
The LDCs are hoping that the "integrated approach" cited in the Singapore text will place their need for market access, debt relief and additional technical and financial assistance on the agenda. Some of the developed countries, on the other hand, want to keep the talks within the arenas of trade and of better coordination of multilateral efforts – in effect precluding commitment of new or additional financial resources for the LDCs.