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friday 31 august
2001
opposition grows to new round of wto
talks
Plans for a new comprehensive round of
World Trade Organisation (WTO) trade
negotiations should be dropped, Friends of
the Earth International said today. The call
follows mounting opposition from developing
countries to a new round of talks, which
could begin at the next WTO Ministerial
Conference in Qatar in November [1]. An
extraordinary meeting of a select group of
invited WTO members is being held today and
tomorrow (31st August/ 1st September) in
Mexico to attempt to finalise the agenda for
Qatar [2].
Current WTO membership stands at 142
nations, the vast majority being developing
countries. However, only about 18 delegations
have been invited to take part in the Mexico
meeting, including the EU, the US and Japan,
all of which generally favour a new round.
Also invited are India, Egypt and Brazil who
are broadly against the idea. Recently,
however, the positions between developed and
developing countries have become increasingly
polarised and acrimonious.
Today's meeting could make or break
prospects for the launch of comprehensive
trade negotiations at the Qatar Ministerial
Conference. Many developing countries oppose
a new round of negotiations. They argue that
previous rounds have brought few benefits and
that they are having difficulty meeting
current implementation schedules. A new round
that includes additional issues such as
investment will only compound these concerns
[3]. Concerns include:
-
restrictions on countries' ability to
regulate foreign corporate investments,
with severe implications for the
environment and people;
-
further liberalisation of services into
environmentally and socially sensitive
sectors such as water, energy, tourism and
transport;
-
current agreements on issues like
agriculture and intellectual property
rights, which have been biased towards rich
countries and companies, and have worked
against poorer nations;
-
the lack of democracy in the WTO. It
reflects the views of powerful trading
nations, sidelining the priorities of
developing countries
Friends of the Earth, together with other
non-governmental organisations, oppose the
launch of a new round of comprehensive trade
negotiations because the current system
favours developed countries and huge
transnationals, at the expense of developing
countries and people.
Tim Rice, Trade Policy Coordinator at
Friends of the Earth, said:
"The WTO must
not ignore the concerns of developing
countries and civil society with respect to
the launch of a comprehensive round of trade
talks. The whole system desperately needs a
complete overhaul to meet the needs of
everyone in the twenty-first century. This
should put fairer trade before profit with
the benefits shared more equally."
It is difficult to predict the outcome of
the meeting. Developing countries will come
under intense pressure to tow the line and
agree to a new round. India, one of the most
influential developing countries, has stated
however that it will not reverse their
opposition to a new round [4].
Notes
[1] The 4th WTO Ministerial Conference will
be held in Qatar. The ministerial is the
highest decision making body of the WTO and
meets every two years. A new round of talks
would negotiate further reductions in
industrial tariffs, agree to progress the
in-built agenda (under the Uruguay Round,
members are already mandated to further
negotiate and review current agreements such
as agriculture and services), and potentially
bring in new issues such as investment.
[2] There is considerable secrecy
surrounding the Mexico meeting. The venue of
the meeting has yet to be made public in an
attempt to limit opportunities for NGOs to
organise and voice opposition. It is believed
that the latest list of WTO members that will
attend the meeting is as follows: the EU, the
US, Japan, Canada, Australia, Egypt, South
Africa, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar, Uruguay,
Switzerland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, India,
Brazil, Tanzania, Singapore and Mexico (as
facilitator).
[3] 1998 saw the collapse of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development's proposed Multilateral Agreement
on Investment (MAI). The MAI was intended to
open up national economies to foreign
investment, and would have reduced
governmental control over inward investment
while increasing the rights and legal status
of transnational corporations. Those
promoting the MAI, such as the EU, have
transferred their attention to the WTO and
hope to introduce investment as a 'new
issue' in the proposed Round.
[4] The Indian Prime Minister is on record
as saying that their opposition to a new
round is
‘shared by many developing
nations and many people in the developed
nations'.
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