Addis Ababa — The suspension of the Doha round of trade negotiations is negatively affecting developing countries' move towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the UN said on Monday.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), which organized the ongoing African finance ministers on MDGs in Addis Ababa revealed that the suspension of the trade negotiations deprives developing countries, particularly Africa, of the benefits from the international trade thereby impeding endeavors to achieve the UN-set millennium Development Goals (MDGs.) "The suspension of the Doha round trade negotiations is constraining the scope for trade to contribute to financing MDGs in Africa. There is still a lot to be done on trade," Abdoulie Janneh, UNECA Executive secretary said.

Janneh also called on African negotiators to make sure essential character as a development round is not diluted in the process.

The Executive secretary also expressed hope for the speedy resuscitation of the negotiations.

"It is in this context that we should well come the 'aid-for-trade' initiative which aims to help developing countries overcome their trade-related challenges," Janneh told the African ministers.

"I feel that if properly harnessed, this initiative has the possibility of enhancing the contribution of trade to economic development in Africa." Meanwhile, that greater coherence at global and national level between domestic policies is extremely important to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a senior World Bank official attending the conference said.

He said achieving the MDGs would require more than the contributions of trade since trade opening alone will not be enough.

"Greater coherence at global and at national level between domestic policies is extremely important," he told the conferee.

"Complementary, policies such as sound and stable macro economic policy framework good competition and investment regulations, institutions that work and good physical and human infrastructure are necessary for trade to contribute towards poverty reduction and development," Valentine Rugwabiza, deputy director of WB said.

The gathering African finance ministers continue their deliberation on strategies to achieve the MDGs, aimed at reducing poverty by half by 2015.

"Only accelerating growth that transform the structure of our economies away from the production of low value added products can help us achieve the MDGs in a sustainable way," Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told African ministers in his opening speech at the opening of the conference.