WTO - dichiarazioni Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Argentina, e del World Development Movement

["palermo@campagnawto.org" <pxp@interfree.it>]

World trade talks collapse
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3108460.stm


World leaders shut their ears to the poor, say protesters

The world trade talks in Mexico have collapsed amid serious differences
between the rich and poor nations.
After four days of wrangling, there was deadlock over proposed new rules
on how countries treat foreign investors, on competition policy and
trade
procedures.

The BBC correspondent at the conference says these proposals were seen
by
many developing countries as a diversion from the main issue - their
demand that farm subsidies in the European Union and the United States
should be eliminated.

The US trade representative at the talks, Robert Zoellick, said the
collapse had been caused by too many delegates pontificating, rather
than
negotiating.

"The differences were very wide, and it was impossible to close the
gap,"
said Kenyan delegate George Odour Ongwen.


There is to be another conference in December to assess how dialogue can
resume.



Contentious issues

Recriminations came quickly. Ugandan delegate Yasphal Tondon said: "The
blame for the collapse must go to the Western countries, because they
insisted on putting their issues first."


Delegate Jacob Nkate shows the strain of the Cancun talks

Dave Timms of the British NGO, the World Development Movement, agreed,
telling BBC News Online: "The collapse of the talks was the only option
for the developing countries - walking out was better than the deal on
the table. It is the EU that must take responsibility for the failure."

Rafidah Aziz, Malaysia's trade minister, said rich countries "kept
demanding things that others couldn't deliver".



Some in the developing world note that the one concrete development to
emerge is the so-called G21 grouping.

Led by Brazil, China and India, it is a coalition of developing
countries
that for the first time worked as a bloc to counter-balance the weight
of
the much richer US, EU and Japan.
"It was not possible to get a concrete result," said Brazilian Foreign
Minister Celso Amorim, "but we think that we have achieved some
important
things: firstly, the respect for our group."
However, Argentina's chief negotiator, Martin Redrado, said: "When there
is a failure, one has to blame everybody".



The US said too many countries were unwilling to make concessions.
"Whether developed or developing, there were 'can do' and 'won't do'
countries here. The rhetoric of 'won't do' overwhelmed the concerted
efforts of the 'can do'," said Mr Zoellick.




Repeated arguments

The problems centred on the so-called "Singapore issues", pushed by
Japan
and the European Union, which would simplify cross-border traffic and
increase competition and market access for multinationals.

The issues were passed to Cancun from delegates at the last WTO meeting
in Qatar because they were so contentious.

Developing countries strongly oppose the issues - not least because many
see their introduction into the WTO as a replay of a fight five years
ago
in Paris.

Then, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD) -
often labelled the "rich nations' club" - tried to introduce a treaty
called the Multilateral Investment Agreement.

Dubbed a "multilaterals' charter" by opponents, it called for the rights
of foreign firms to be protected, but was seen by many in the developing
world as a way of making powerful US and European corporations immune to
local regulation.

Ever since the MAI collapsed in 1998 following disagreements within the
OECD, corporate lobby groups have been pushing the European Union hard
to
bring it in through the WTO instead.

This pressure, some development campaigners believe, is why European
Commissioner Pascal Lamy has been so forceful over the Singapore issues,
in contrast to the lower-key approach of the Americans.

Echoes of Seattle
Some movement had been achieved in Cancun with the EU agreeing to drop
at
least multinational access and competition regulation from the final
communiqué.




THE FARMING DEBATE
The cost to the poor of farming subsidies

But Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said some developing nations
would not accept even one of the issues in the text.

The developing nations wanted movement on the issue of rich nations
paying subsidies to farmers but delegates said that failure to achieve
success on the Singapore issues scuppered any progress there.

A draft communiqué circulated on Saturday called for an end to export
subsidies on farm products of special interest to developing countries,
but fell far short of the elimination of all subsidies urged by the G21
group of developing nations.

The World Bank said the global trade pact planned for next year would
have added as much as $520bn to global incomes by 2015, lifting 144
million people out of poverty.

The failure echoes a similar result at the infamous WTO talks in Seattle
in 1999 where divisions between rich and poor nations were accompanied
by
violent street protests.

In Cancun, thousands of protesters armed with stones and shields and
chanting "WTO murders" marched on Saturday to denounce the talks - but
were kept away from the conference centre.