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Militants
Call for Junking of WTO
As rich countries push for new round of
talks on multilateral investment pact
Filipino
workers and peasants will call for the junking of the World Trade Organization (WTO)
when the latter holds its fifth ministerial conference on Sept. 9-14 in Cancun,
Mexico. Their alliance, Anakpawis (toiling masses) will stage an anti-WTO
camp-out at Rizal Park, Manila on Sept. 9-10. This will be followed by a
multi-sectoral rally to be led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Sept. 13
in front of the U.S. Embassy and similar protests in the provinces.
By
Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com
The
protests will take place as thousands of anti-WTO activists, farmers and workers
from all over the world will converge at Cancun to call for the dissolution of
WTO with others advocating reforms within its framework. The anti-WTO
protesters, who will be joined by a delegation from Bayan and the Kilusang
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines) will also
hold peoples’ forums and exhibits during the fifth ministerial in Cancun,
Mexico’s showcase resort.
At
a forum in Quezon City Aug. 22, Rafael Mariano, KMP Anakpawis chair, said that
since the Philippines joined the WTO eight years ago millions of jobs have been
lost. The country’s trade deficit has also ballooned to $5.2 billion, he
added.
“Fair
trade or free competition is impossible under the WTO,” Mariano said. He said
that the competition between developing and developed countries “is like a
boxing bout between Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao—it’s a mismatch.”
Because of this, Mariano said, the correct position is to junk the WTO.
In the same forum, Antonio Tujan of the Institute of Political Economy (IPE)
said that people’s organizations attending the Cancun conference will seek to
“de-legitimize the WTO and expose and oppose the deficiency of the Philippine
position.” He said that although the Philippine government, along with other
developing countries, is asking for trade reforms its main position remains to
be pro-WTO.
New round
In
Cancun, the United States and other industrialized countries are expected to
push for a new round of talks on the so-called Singapore issues: a multilateral
investment agreement, competition policy, government procurement, and trade
facilitation.
On
the first issue, there are said to be nearly 2,000 bilateral and regional
agreements on investment but the economic giants, particularly the U.S. and
European Union, are pushing for a global multilateral investment agreement under
the WTO auspices to pry open the economies of the developing world for more
aggressive foreign investment.
The
agenda for a new round of talks is being opposed however by many developing
countries led by India, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa. Noting their dissent
against the new round, IPE in a primer warned: “Under the investment
agreement, the privilege and power of foreign investors will greatly grow while
governments will lose the right to control their entry. This will cause the
erosion of protection for the local industries and economy and give rise to the
dominance of foreign investors.”
On the other hand, the proposed competition policy seeks to formulate a uniform
competition policy for all WTO member countries. If such an agreement should be
formed in the WTO, IPE said, “its member countries would be forced to
implement competition policies not suited to their conditions and needs.”
Under the transparency in government procurement proposal, foreign investors
will be allowed to take part in the procurement of needed government supplies.
IPE asserts that government procurement is an important aspect of development
since services and products purchased by governments could be used for pushing
the economy forward. Services and supplies could be purchased from the local
economy and invigorate local industries. But if this area should come under the
helm of the WTO, according to IPE, governments would lose an effective tool for
economic planning.
It is said that the issue of trade facilitation, which aims for a uniform trade
policy for all WTO member
countries, is going to be disadvantageous to developing countries because the
gap between them and
the developing world would result in an iniquitous policy.
Interestingly, while the Philippine government was among the leading supporters
of the U.S. position in past WTO negotiations it has joined other developing
countries in opposing the new round of negotiations. On the agriculture
negotiations, it has criticized the U.S. and the European Union, the major
players, for “their gross inadequacy of ambition” in reforming distortions
of trade.
To charges that the Philippine government has yet to reveal its categorical
position in the Cancun fifth ministerial, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo,
Jr. said last week that the government would move for the imposition of
sanctions on farm imports heavily subsidized by rich governments. Government
subsidies have made the farm products of the rich countries to become cheaper
thus crowding out the food products of the developing world including the
Philippines.
WTO
backgrounder
The WTO is a product of a series of negotiations on the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
The GATT is a series of international agreements which aim to remove
restrictions to “free trade” among countries. Its goal is to serve as a
guide for world trade within the framework of “free exchange” of goods,
services, and investments among countries.
The WTO was born after the eighth round of negotiations on the GATT, which was
held in Uruguay in 1994. It serves as an organizational framework for the
implementation of the GATT. The WTO agreements are composed of the GATT
agreements, amended in various negotiations until 1994, as well as other trade
agreements.
Among the main GATT agreements are the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), Agreement
on Textiles and Clothing, General Agreement on Trade in Services, Agreement on
Trade-related Investment Measures (TRIMs), and the Agreement on Trade-related
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
Under the AoA, restrictions on agricultural imports shall be replaced with
tariffs, while existing tariffs shall be progressively reduced, and eventually
tariffication of agricultural products shall be abolished. It also provides for
the removal of subsidies on local agricultural products for export. Prosperous
countries like the U.S. were obliged to implement the agreement before 2000,
while developing countries like the Philippines are given until 2004.
The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing aims to remove all restrictions to trade
in clothing and textiles, one of the most protected industries in the developed
world. Its goal is to liberalize the entry of clothing and textiles from the
developing countries into the developed world. The developed countries are
pushing for gradual liberalization in this case, unlike what they have been
doing in agriculture and other WTO areas.
The GATS lays down the framework for the liberalization of service industries
like finance, media and communications,
transportation, and professional services like health and education.
TRIMs aims to abolish all restrictions to the entry of foreign investors. Under
the agreement, no country shall be allowed to impose requisites and restrictions
on foreign investment.
The agreement on TRIPs is being pushed mainly by transnational pharmaceutical
and biotechnological corporations. It provides protection for the “rights”
of “inventors” or “discoverers” of products, designs or technologies to
the exclusive use of or profit from these. Transnational corporations have been
very strict in monitoring violations of intellectual property rights. However,
according to Ibon Foundation, there have been many cases where indigenous
knowledge and practices, as well as materials, have been claimed by these
transnationals hiding behind the smokescreen of “intellectual property
rights.” Bulatlat.com
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