TRADE: FAILURE OF WTO TALKS APPLAUDED, AFRICA ...
COMTEX Newswire
Sonntag, 12. Dezember 1999 02:06:00
LAGOS, (Dec. 10) IPS - "It was an amazing week," Martin Khor,
director of the Third World Network (TWN), wrote of the events
that took place at the just-ended Third Ministerial talks of the
World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Seattle, Washington.
"At the end, the WTO Ministerial Conference that was supposed to
launch a new Round collapsed, suddenly, in almost total chaos,
like a house of cards," wrote Khor, whose group is made up of
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in third world countries
involved in development and environment issues.
It is rare that failure gives reason for celebration, but the WTO
ministerial meeting in Seattle has brought huge relief to African
countries.
From Lagos, Nairobi, Harare and Johannesburg, the collapse of the
Seattle talks is being hailed as a victory for all developing
countries.
Nathan Shamuyarira, Minister of Industry and Commerce, who led
the Zimbabwe delegation in the talks, told journalists upon his
return that the failure of the trade talks was a warning that
Africa should be taken seriously in next year's negotiations.
Nigeria's manufacturers are also relieved. In separate meetings
this week, the producers lamented that the world trade system had
not alleviated the multiple problems plaguing the Nigerian
economy.
African countries feel vindicated. After four days of talks,
protests by the civil society and rights groups, there was no new
Round, no Declaration, not even a brief joint statement to thank
the hosts or decide on the follow up process.
For the first time in the history of the WTO, the developing
countries spoke with one voice and never swayed from their
positions.
It was a memorable victory for them. But, as the negotiations
return to Geneva, where the WTO representatives would continue to
negotiate on a draft declaration, Yash Tandon of the Zimbabwe-
based International South Group Network (ISGN) warns that having
lost the battle, "we are likely to witness much arm-twisting and
carrot-dangling at developing countries by industrialized
countries."
"Those that are hard to coopt, such as Zimbabwe, are likely to
face further isolation," warns Tandon, who attended the Seattle
parley. "Those that are easy to coopt will be sucked in with
tangible rewards."
"At Seattle, the OAU (Organization of African Unity) could stand
together in a moment of shared anger at being marginalized. They
could unite on the issue of process. However, when issues of
substance come to the fore, they are likely to get divided. The
same is likely to happen to the Caribbean and Latin American
countries."
"At the same time, the power holders, mainly the U.S. and the EU
(European Union), will now seek to reconcile their differences
much more earnestly. They have seen that when they quarrel, the
proletarian nations of the world unite in rebellion," said
Tandon.
According to Khor, the more basic cause of the Seattle debacle
was the untransparent and undemocratic nature of the WTO system,
the blatant manipulation of that system by the major powers, and
the refusal of many developing countries to continue to be on the
receiving end.
Tandon, however, said that even though the developing countries
united against the undemocratic nature of the WTO, the experience
of Seattle will not lead to immediate democratization of the WTO.
"The big players have much to lose by that," he said.
Tandon, who is based in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, said
the next strategy of all progressive forces in the world would
continue with the work that they have been doing, in a more
intense manner and at deeper levels.
He suggests five levels of action. Further analytical and
educational work on substantive issues that will be negotiated in
Geneva, such as agriculture, services, investment, competition,
procurement, environment, and labor standards.
The second suggestion emphasizes the building of stronger
alliances that cut across nations and peoples. The third calls
for deepening ideological and theoretical discussions.
"Seattle was a challenge not simply to the WTO; it was a
challenge to the whole process of liberalization and
globalization," said Tandon. "Much more work needs to be done at
the institutional level, such as in SADC (the 14-nation Southern
African Development Community) in Southern Africa and in the OAU
at the continental level."
Noting that the unity of the OAU at Seattle was a product of
largely conjectural factors, Tandon warns the pan-African body
against reverting to "its usual fractious passivity."
"The SADC, on the other hand, is already a divided house, with
South Africa going along with the global power brokers rather
than with the rest of its membership," he said.
To forge unity, Tandon calls for the strengthening of the
institutional capacity of African organizations to protect and
serve the interests of Africa rather than those of either global
corporations or their local agents.
Khor said the main message of the protesters in Seattle was heard
loud and clear, that the WTO has gone much too far in setting
global rules that "lock in" the interests of big corporations at
the expense of developing countries, the poor, the environment,
workers and consumers.
"The impact of grassroots protests against globalization, already
evident in the campaigns on the multilateral agreement on
investment (MAI) and against genetic engineering, had its coming-
of-age in the street battles of Seattle," said Khor.
Stella Okoli, spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
sector in Nigeria, said that membership of the WTO should not be
used to kill local industries. "No government in the world opens
its doors without very stringent conditions to imported goods
which can be produced locally," she said.
Does the Seattle debacle give hope for reform to the WTO's
decision-making system?
"That depends really on whether the developing countries can now
make use of the impasse to press for a democratic system, for
example by abolishing the green-room process that belongs to the
feudal age, and which ultimately sank Seattle," said Khor.
Copyright 1999