UN General Assembly
2005

outstanding debt owed by 18 countries, including 14 from Africa. I would like to appeal to all creditors to follow this noble example, because debt cancellation has the potential to assist the poor countries in achieving the MDGs and, hence, attaining national economic recovery and economic transformation. Another challenge for Malawi is that my country finds it hard to be integrated into the global trading system, partly due to the lack of products that meet high quality standards, but also due to an unfair and inequitable global trading system. We therefore join the appeal for the speedy completion of the World Trade Organization Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations in order to assist poor countries, such as Malawi, to benefit from global trade. Furthermore, there is need to provide immediate duty-free and quota-free market access for all exports from the least developed countries, including the elimination of all non-tariff barriers, such as trade distorting subsidies and domestic support, especially in agriculture, by developed countries. In the African perspective, development efforts have also been heavily undermined by the prevalence