NGOs want better deal for developing countries
SINGAPORE (JP): Dozens of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), mostly from developing countries, have urged the World Trade Organization (WTO) to pursue fairer international trade rather than take on new issues.
More than 25 NGOs said in a joint statement to the WTO ministerial conference that many WTO agreements favored developed countries over developing and least-developed countries.
The agreement on subsidies, for instance, allows developed countries common subsidies for research, regional development and environmental protection.
"However, similar consideration has not been given to common subsidy practices of developing countries for diversification and improvement of production and exports," the statement said.
NGOs from Bangladesh, Brazil, Ghana, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Kenya, the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and Zimbabwe put together the joint statement.
The Singapore government invited NGOs interested in international trade to meet on the sidelines of the WTO ministerial conference to air their views.
The NGOs noted the agreement on services was clearly imbalance in its treatment of capital and labor movement. And that the negotiating program for further liberalization had generally covered sectors primarily of interest to developed countries.
The statement suggested that on services, developing countries should be given flexibility for their liberalization policies on various sectors' needs and conditions.
"There should not be attempts to pressure for more liberalization which will lead to problems and even threaten the survival of local enterprises, especially small ones," it said.
On market access, developed countries' tariffs on goods of export interest to developing countries were still high, the NGOs said.
Developed countries' import restraints were still stifling developing countries' production and exports, they noted.
"These problems continue in spite of the commitment of developed countries made in the past to accord high priority to the reduction and elimination of barriers to products of particular export interest to developing countries," the statement read.
On textiles, developed countries extracted concessions from textile exporting developing countries to bring the sector into normal WTO discipline rather than give them compensation, the statement added.
The London-based Christian Aid reported that least-developed countries were set to lose while the WTO trade ministers met here.
"There is no level playing field in international trade," Christian Aid said.
The 48 least-developed countries have 12 percent of the world's population but only 0.4 percent of global trade.
Christian Aid suggested the WTO at least adopt a proposal for duty-free access to rich countries for least-developed countries' products.
The 33 NGOs from developing countries questioned the motives behind developed countries' efforts to introduce new issues to the WTO before developing countries in the southern hemisphere understood and absorbed the effects of the Uruguay Round tariff- reduction agreements.
Many developing countries are opposed to the introduction of new issues like labor standards, a multilateral investment treaty, competition policy and government procurement.
"We are extremely concerned that attention of the WTO ministerial conference is focused on intense negotiations on these controversial new issues," the NGOs' statement said.
While urging sustainable patterns of production and consumption, the NGOs warned that the environment should not be misused as an issue for protectionist purposes. They suggested the WTO should not transpose the role of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs).
International environmental NGOs like World Wide Fund and Greenpeace International noted that the WTO had failed to make international trade and environmental policies mutually supportive.
"While the environment should not be made use of as an issue for protectionism by the powerful, ... environmental negotiators should retain and exercise the right to adopt legitimate trade related environmental measures in MEAs without the threat that this might be against free trade and WTO principles," Greenpeace stated. (rid)