The UK is using its post-Brexit powers to launch one of the world’s most generous trading schemes with developing countries today.

The International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan has launched the new Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), which will extend tariff cuts to hundreds of more products exported from developing countries, going further than the EU’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences.

This is on top of the thousands of products which developing countries can already export to the UK duty-free [and will mean 99% of goods imported from Africa, for example will enter the UK duty free].

 The scheme means that a wide variety of products – from clothes and shoes to foods that aren’t widely produced in the UK including olive oil and tomatoes – will benefit from lower or zero tariffs.

The Developing Countries Trading Scheme ensures that British businesses can benefit from more than £750 million per year of reduced import costs, leading to more choice and lower costs for UK consumers to help with the cost of living.

Secretary of State for International Trade Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:

As an independent trading nation, we are taking back control of our trade policy and making decisions that back UK businesses, help with the cost of living, and support the economies of developing countries around the world. 

UK businesses can look forward to less red-tape and lower costs, incentivising firms to import goods from developing countries.

The DCTS covers 65 countries across Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas including some of the poorest countries in the world.

It removes some seasonal tariffs, meaning more options for British supermarkets and shops all year round. For example, cucumbers, which can’t be grown in the UK in the winter, will now be tariff-free during this period for the majority of countries in the scheme.

The scheme also simplifies complex trade rules such as rules of origin – the rules dictating what proportion of a product must be made in its country of origin. This makes it easier for businesses like family-owned textile business DBL Group from Bangladesh to export, encouraging developing countries to play a larger role in the global trade community.

Mohammed Jabbar Managing Director of DBL Group said:

These new rules will be a game changer for us. They mean we will be able to source our cotton from many more countries than we could before, which will make the business more competitive and our supply chains a lot more resilient.

This work is part of a wider push by the UK to drive a free trade, pro-growth agenda across the globe, using trade to drive prosperity and help eradicate poverty.

This drive includes a new initiative called Platinum Partnerships, designed to grow trade between the UK and selected lower and middle-income Commonwealth countries and reduce dependency on aid. The partnerships will strengthen two-way green trade and investment, helping countries’ adaptation to climate change.

The Prime Minister also recently announced a new Trade Centre of Expertise, which will bring together the best of British expertise to support partner governments, giving them the tools they need to more actively participate in the global trading system.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has published its advice on which vaccines should be used in this year’s autumn booster programme.

All of the available boosters provide good protection against severe illness from COVID-19 and the Committee has emphasised that getting a booster in good time before the winter season is more important for those eligible than the type of vaccine that is received.

The vaccines advised for use in the autumn booster programme are:

For adults aged 18 years and above:

• Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) bivalent Omicron BA.1/Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine
• Moderna mRNA (Spikevax) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine
• Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine
• in exceptional circumstances, the Novavax Matrix-M adjuvanted wild-type vaccine (Nuvaxovid) may be used when no alternative clinically suitable UK-approved COVID-19 vaccine is available

For people aged 12 to 17 years:

• Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine

For people aged 5 to 11 years:

• Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA (Comirnaty) Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine paediatric formulation

‘Bivalent’ vaccines have been developed by global manufacturers since the emergence and dominance of the Omicron variant. These vaccines contain two different antigens (substances that induce an immune response) based on two different COVID-19 strains, or variants. The original mRNA vaccines contain one antigen (monovalent), based on the original ‘wild-type’ strain.

Studies indicate the Moderna bivalent vaccine produces a marginally higher immune response against some variants than the Moderna mRNA Original ‘wild-type’ vaccine. The clinical relevance of these small differences is uncertain.

The committee will consider further bivalent vaccines for use in the programme as they are approved by the MHRA.

In its latest advice the JCVI has stated that, where feasible, it would be preferable for a single type of booster vaccine to be offered throughout the duration of the autumn programme for simplicity of deployment.

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 immunisation on the JCVI, said:

All of the available booster vaccines offer very good protection against severe illness from COVID-19. As more vaccines continue to be developed and approved, the JCVI will consider the benefits of including them in the UK programme.

It is important that everyone who is eligible takes up a booster this autumn, whichever vaccine is on offer. This will increase your protection against being severely ill from COVID-19 as we move into winter.

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at UKHSA, said:

Although cases of COVID-19 are relatively low at present, we are expecting to see the virus circulating more widely during the winter months.

The booster is being offered to those at higher risk of severe illness and by taking up the booster vaccine this autumn, you will increase your protection ahead of the winter months, when respiratory viruses are typically at their peak.

NHS England will confirm details on how and when eligible people can access the autumn booster vaccine in due course.

Thank you President and thanks to Special Envoy Grundberg and Ms Mudawi for their briefings.

On behalf of the United Kingdom, I would like to pay tribute to Mr Grundberg’s continued leadership, which has been critical to securing this two-month extension to the truce, a significant achievement by the UN and the parties. For the Yemeni people, it means an additional two months of relative peace, and the chance to keep benefitting from the confidence building measures.

Fuel prices for ordinary Yemenis have been seriously eased thanks to the delivery of 720 thousand metric tons of oil into Hodeidah Port during the last four months. Yemenis have been accorded renewed freedom of movement thanks to the commercial round-trip flights out from Sana’a.

While the extension of the truce is welcome, we recognise and we’ve heard about today the challenge of the two months ahead. We urge the parties to continue their constructive engagement with the UN Special Envoy and to abide by their commitments. Continued cooperation and an expansion of the truce is in the interests of all parties, and the Yemeni people.

Only peace will solve the humanitarian crisis. Despite the truce’s tangible benefits to Yemeni civilians, rising global commodity prices and a dearth of humanitarian funding has meant continued suffering for Yemenis. World Food Programme analysis in June showed some of the highest levels of inadequate food consumption ever recorded in Yemen. This cycle, shortage of funding will lead to 3 million fewer Yemenis receiving the rations they need. The funding deficit is undermining the humanitarian response and, without further disbursement of funds from donors, the crisis will only deepen and undermine the benefits of the truce. And, indeed, without humanitarian access, no amount of funding can serve those in need. The people of Yemen deserve to live peacefully, without the looming threat of famine.

While we welcome the progress associated with the truce, the threat of a spill from the FSO SAFER continues to loom over Yemen and the region. Action must be immediate, as non-intervention will result in environmental and humanitarian catastrophe. The UK was pleased to announce on July 18th a further £2 million pledge to the UN operation, but we urge colleagues to urgently bridge the £20 million gap and commit funding immediately before it is too late.

Thank you.