Global protests force cancellation of WTO meeting in Geneva

Developed nations have themselves to blame

Mike Waghorne and Larry Brown

Geneva (26 April 2006) - An upcoming World Trade Organization "mini ministerial" meeting has been cancelled as a result of angry protests from
developing countries, NGOs and trade unions.

National Secretary-Treasurer Larry Brown says the meeting would have excluded most countries from the developing world. "This is obviously
completely unacceptable," Brown said, adding that it is too early to say whether a WTO agreement is now dead.

"It's obviously a setback and it probably means more deadlines are going to shift. I fully expect that a significant amount of effort will be dedicated to getting talks back on," Brown said.

"But this latest setback for the talks simply reinforces what we have said time and time again - the WTO and developed countries must seriously rethink their approach to this whole set of negotiations. Negotiators have to do more than pay lip service to the idea that this round is supposed to be about development, and the decision-making processes developed between now and the end of July should be all-inclusive and transparent. Manipulation by some of the largest developed countries is not an acceptable part of the process."

Pressured by Bush

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy announced the cancellation of the April 30 meeting, which was intended to finalize negotiations in this round of trade talks. It was scheduled in Geneva.

Mike Waghorne, assistant general secretary of Public Services International (PSI), the global federation for public service trade unions to which NUPGE is an affiliate, agreed with Brown that developed countries brought the situation on themselves.

"Developed countries only have themselves to blame for this cancellation," he said.

"The speed and agenda of these negotiations has been rushed to suit the U.S. president, who may soon lose his freedom to negotiate an agreement," added Waghorne, a reference to the 2007 time limit on Bush's powers to fast-track a deal.

The National Union and the PSI see the aggressive strategy adopted by the developed countries as forcing many developing countries to approach trade deals with extreme caution.

"This was supposed to be a development round - one in which the South got more than it gave. However, in services and non-agricultural negotiations, the North is demanding that the South give up a huge amount of policy space in return for paltry and uncertain gains in agriculture," said Waghorne.

Nairobi Declaration

At the recent African Union Trade Ministers meeting, ministers adopted the Nairobi Ministerial Declaration on the Doha Work Program.

The declaration set out Africa's position on the current round of negotiations, saying:

"We stress that the negotiations should proceed in a transparent and inclusive manner, especially at this late stage. There should not be any pressure on African countries, particularly as they [have] constraints in terms of human and financial resources and institutional capacity."

"We agree with them," said Waghorne. "If this round is to proceed then it must be on fair and equitable terms, delivering development on the basis of a democratic process." NUPGE