For information only - not an official document

UNIS/OUS/070
4 March 2011

Re-issued as received

Global Trade Can Be Engine of Economic Development, Say Contributors to New Issue of Making It Magazine

VIENNA, 4 March (UN Information Service) - Developing countries need to improve their capacity to trade in goods and services if they want to advance economically, according to authors writing in the latest issue of the magazine Making It: Industry for Development, published by UNIDO.

Peter Sutherland, a former Director-General of the World Trade Organization, argues that a conclusion of the Doha Round is essential if all countries are to share the benefits of global trade. Highlighting the link between trade and the growth of the world economy, he calls on world leaders to make a refreshed commitment to multilateral trade.

The World Bank's Xiao Ye examines the recent surge in trade between Africa and China. She reveals that sub-Saharan African countries' main exports to China are raw materials and they are unable to supply China's growing demand for manufactured goods, transport equipment and machinery. She speculates that this could all change if China provides the investment to drive Africa's long-awaited industrialization process.

Also on Africa, the University of Stellenbosch's Colin McCarthy questions the approach to regional integration and reminds policymakers not to overlook the need to develop a nation's capacity to produce competitive goods and services.

On the issue of trade and its carbon footprint, representatives of the shipping and aviation industries give upbeat assessments of their efforts to reduce CO2 emissions.

There are also articles on climate compatible development, and on Cape Verde's graduation from Least Developed Country status, an exclusive interview with Timor-Leste's President José Ramos-Horta, and much more.

Making It's website - www.makingitmagazine.net - contains not only all the content of the print versions but other original articles and features as well.

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For information please contact:

Charles Arthur
Editor, Making It
Tel: +43-1-26026-3638
Email  c.arthur@unido.org