Draft WTO text a slap in the face for the developing world
17/12/2005
- Opinión
The draft Ministerial text is a slap in the face for developing countries,
reinforcing once again that the WTO is profoundly anti-development and an
institution well beyond repair.
There is nothing in this text that is of benefit to developing countries.
While the delegations inside the Convention Centre haggled over
punctuation, thousands of farmers, fisherfolk and local Hong Kong
protesters marched to the Centre insisting their voices be heard.
“We demand that the masquerade inside be stopped. The reality is that
people’s livelihoods are at stake,’ Walden Bello of Focus on the Global
South told a crowd of thousands.
The US and EU can continue their dumping in developing countries with
results that will be disastrous for farmers. The overall level of subsidies
will be allowed to increase if this text is accepted.
On services, the text does not address any of the fundamental concerns
expressed by a majority of the membership. Instead, it retains all of the
previous version’s controversial elements.
Walking out of the services negotiations early this morning, the Venezuelan
Minister said: “None of our concerns have been addressed”.
Analysts, protesters and developing countries alike are clear that the
inclusion of Annex C will decimate existing service sectors and destroy any
future chance for developing countries to choose their own development
pathway.
“If this text is passed tomorrow, it will mean the irreversible opening of
services across the developing world. Annex C will become the TRIPS of the
Hong Kong Ministerial,” said Aileen Kwa.
On NAMA, the text completely ignores the strong demand made by developing
countries for flexibilities and manufactures a consensus on a Swiss formula
that clearly remains non-existent.
Developing countries who have vowed to put development at the center of the
NAMA negotiations must now take the logical step and read this text for
what it really is—a road map to de-industrialization.
The final insult is the so-called ‘development package’, a line-up of empty
promises which have little chance of being funded by the US Congress or the
EU.
Source: Focus on the Global South. www.focusweb.org
https://www.alainet.org/en/articulo/113874
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