"Developed countries and advanced developing countries must open their markets for products from the developing world, and support in developing their export and import capacity"
About this Quote
Anna Lindh captures a twofold demand for a fairer global economy: lower the barriers that keep poorer nations out of lucrative markets, and invest in the ability of those nations to trade at all. Market access alone does not lift communities if producers cannot meet standards, move goods efficiently, or finance shipments. Likewise, training farmers and upgrading ports achieve little if rich and middle-income countries keep tariffs high, maintain quotas, or protect domestic producers with subsidies that depress world prices.
Her formulation reflects the early 2000s debates around the Doha Development Agenda, EU agricultural reform, and the push for duty-free, quota-free access for least developed countries. As Sweden’s foreign minister, Lindh argued that trade policy is part of foreign policy: a tool of solidarity as well as strategy. She widens responsibility beyond the traditional North-South frame by calling on advanced developing countries, the emerging economies whose own markets and purchasing power shape South-South trade, to open up too.
The support she urges is concrete. It means helping exporters comply with sanitary and technical standards, modernizing customs and ports to cut delays, improving logistics and digital systems, and expanding trade finance for small firms. It also means simplifying rules of origin so preferences are usable, not just promised. On the other side, it implies reducing tariffs on textiles and agriculture, curbing trade-distorting subsidies in sectors like cotton and sugar, and tackling opaque non-tariff barriers.
Behind the policy details is a moral and pragmatic insight. When developing countries can sell competitively, they generate incomes, build institutions, and become reliable partners and consumers. Trade becomes an engine of development rather than a race stacked by rules. Lindh’s message rejects charity and isolation alike. It calls for shared responsibility to make globalization genuinely inclusive, where opportunity is expanded not only by opening doors but by ensuring people can walk through them.
Her formulation reflects the early 2000s debates around the Doha Development Agenda, EU agricultural reform, and the push for duty-free, quota-free access for least developed countries. As Sweden’s foreign minister, Lindh argued that trade policy is part of foreign policy: a tool of solidarity as well as strategy. She widens responsibility beyond the traditional North-South frame by calling on advanced developing countries, the emerging economies whose own markets and purchasing power shape South-South trade, to open up too.
The support she urges is concrete. It means helping exporters comply with sanitary and technical standards, modernizing customs and ports to cut delays, improving logistics and digital systems, and expanding trade finance for small firms. It also means simplifying rules of origin so preferences are usable, not just promised. On the other side, it implies reducing tariffs on textiles and agriculture, curbing trade-distorting subsidies in sectors like cotton and sugar, and tackling opaque non-tariff barriers.
Behind the policy details is a moral and pragmatic insight. When developing countries can sell competitively, they generate incomes, build institutions, and become reliable partners and consumers. Trade becomes an engine of development rather than a race stacked by rules. Lindh’s message rejects charity and isolation alike. It calls for shared responsibility to make globalization genuinely inclusive, where opportunity is expanded not only by opening doors but by ensuring people can walk through them.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|
More Quotes by Anna
Add to List
