Buhari seeks duty-free market for least developed countries

President Muhammadu Buhari has called on developed and developing nations to grant duty-free and quota-free market access for products originating from the world’s 46 least-developed countries to ensure their integration in regional and global value chains.

Speaking in Doha, the capital of the State of Qatar, at the UN Conference of Least Developed Countries, the President strongly criticized the current structure of the global financial system which places an unsustainable external debt burden on the most vulnerable countries.

He warned that such debt burdens would make it extremely difficult for LDCs to meet the 2030 Agenda for Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“In 2015, the world came together to endorse the 2030 Agenda for Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. There was no doubt that it was highly ambitious and would require leaders around the world to be fully committed for the SDGs to be achieved within the projected timeframe.