GCAP
Arab region position on WTO talks in
Geneva
By Kinda Mohamadieh, Global Call to Action against Poverty (
GCAP
)
- The nature of the whole "Green Room" process which involves just a small group of countries and excludes the vast majority is undemocratic. [This includes the news that the WTO DG will be putting forward his own text for negotiations
with less than 24 hours for delegations to review it]
- On industry: What matters is the percentage of tariff cuts that will result from the negotiations; developed countries are pushing developing countries to cut their tariffs twice as much as they would. This would lead to massive job loss and deindustrialization in
multiple sectors. Also, developing countries will lose a significant amount of tariff revenues, which are needed for their health and education budgets. They will lose future policy space for developing strategic industries necessary for industrial development.
- On agriculture: The Doha Round will not solve the food crisis. The model
of trade under Doha Round will make food prices more volatile, increasing developing countries’ dependence on imports, and strengthening the power of multinational agribusiness in food and agricultural markets. Developing
countries are likely to lose further room for policy measures in their agriculture sector. There is need for increased policy tools that would help developing countries preserve food security, farmers’ livelihood, and rural
development.
- On services: The current negotiations continue to support developed countries’ attempts to significantly expand the level of liberalization being demanded. These demands are contrary
to rules of General Agreement on Trade in Services that leave countries free to chose which sectors to liberalize. It would result in making the current liberalization and privatization of services, including public services, extremely hard to reverse.
·
The Doha Round will not alleviate poverty or promote development. Under the World Bank scenario, global gains projected for 2015 from the current trade model are US$96 billion, with $16 billion going to the developing world. This represents 0.2%
of developing country national income, or less than a penny a day per person in the developing world. Half of all the benefits to developing countries are expected to flow to just eight countries:
Argentina
,
Brazil
,
China
,
India
,
Mexico
,
Thailand
,
Turkey
, and
Vietnam
. The
Middle East
and
Africa
would be the biggest losers from this deal. The costs far outweigh the projected gains.
·
The current
Doha
package is a bad deal. It is time for a new approach to trade that focuses on policies that promote people-centered ecologically sustainable development.
For more information on GCAP, see www.whiteband.org.
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