NCTO backs ACTIF on existing trade preferences ahead of WTO meet
08 Dec '05
3 min read
The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) announced that The African Cotton and Textile Industry Federation (ACTIF) joined textile and apparel groups in the CAFTA/NAFTA/ANDEAN countries in calling on their respective governments to insist that existing trade preferences concerning textile and apparel products be preserved at the Hong Kong (HK) Ministerial.
ACTIF said that trade preferences currently given to its member countries must not be negated or eliminated by new tariff schemes proposed by other countries. This includes an EU-backed proposal that all least-developed countries (LDCs) be given duty-free, quota free (DF/QF) access for textile products. ACTIF pointed out that giving new duty-free status to “super-competitors,” such as Bangladesh, would cost jobs in vulnerable African textile and apparel sectors
Jas Bedi, Chairman of ACTIF, said, “Thanks to trade preferences in place in the US and EU, African textile and apparel exports now provide jobs for hundreds of thousands of African workers that had no jobs before. We appeal to our governments to make sure these trade preferences remain intact and that our textile and apparel sectors are not given away to countries seeking to eliminate or negate our preferences through drastic tariff cuts or other tariff schemes, including the EU-backed LDC duty-free, quota-free initiative.”
ACTIF also joined Western Hemisphere trade groups in calling for textile and apparel products to be removed from the industrial products classification in the NAMA talks and be put in a separate sectoral on market access during the upcoming Hong Kong Ministerial.
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