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WTO-CANCUN: Trade Ministers Unfazed by Criticism as Meet Begins
By Diego Cevallos
CANCUN, Mexico, Sep 10, 2003 (IPS) - The maxim that trade foments development came
under fire Wednesday at the inauguration of the World Trade Organisation's
Fifth Ministerial Conference, with criticisms from the likes of UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and from activists who burst onto the scene
shouting "Shame!"
"We are told that trade can provide a ladder to a better life and deliver us
from poverty and despair... Sadly, the reality of the international trading
system today does not match the rhetoric," Annan said in statement read at
the opening session of the five-day WTO conference in this Mexican resort
city.
Mexican President Vicente Fox, speaking as host of the event, addressed the
ministers saying, "We can no longer permit well-being to be limited to a few
nations. We can no longer postpone the battle against poverty and
marginalization."
Fox urged the representatives of the WTO's 146 member states to listen to
what civil society organisations and others who question the current
globalisation process are saying.
Fox's words and the greeting from Annan, who apologised for not personally
attending the WTO meet (he is heading to Geneva for a special meeting of the
United Nations Security Council), were applauded by some 30 social activists
present in the main hall of the Cancun convention centre.
The delegates from the industrialised countries also applauded, but with
less enthusiasm. "They realised they were being talked about, but they
didn't care," Sergio Marroquí, an activist from Spain, said in comments to
IPS.
Protesters who gained unauthorised access to the opening ceremonies shouted
"Shame!" and held up signs that read "WTO undemocratic", "WTO
anti-development" and "WTO obsolete".
"It is shameful that the WTO considers trade the key to fighting poverty,"
because the truth is that the organisation "only creates poverty," Anuradha
Mittal, co-director of the humanitarian organisation Food First, told IPS.
Strong and open trade can contribute to international peace and stability by
forging closer and mutually beneficial ties between countries, says the WTO
in its annual trade report for 2003.
The authors of the report assert that it is "widely recognised" that trade
is one of the most effective means to support the efforts of developing
countries to escape poverty.
The Cancun ministerial conference aims to promote compliance with the
agreements signed at the last conference, held in 2001 in Doha, Qatar.
According to the mandate of that meeting, the 146 member nations of the WTO
have until the end of 2004 to enact several accords for international trade,
with liberalisation of farm trade being the most contentious area.
But there is not much optimism about what can be achieved in Cancun, where
the differences between the industrialised and developing countries stand in
stark relief, particularly when it comes to agricultural subsidies. The
European Union and the United States together spend a billion dollars on
such supports daily.
While the opening session took place, 10 km from the convention centre a
group of around 3,000 activists gathered in the parks and culture centres of
the city of Cancun for a parallel conference known as the People's Forum.
A group of protesters also tried - unsuccessfully - to reach the site of
the official WTO meeting.
Some 200 people wearing bandannas over their faces tore down a stretch of
metal security fencing, but the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd
and prevent them from entering the convention centre.
Ten police officers were hurt in the clash, including Gen. Alvaro Moreno,
commander of the federal forces serving as back-up, and at least six other
people, among them a journalist.
According to official reports, one of the injured policemen was beaten by a
mob for five minutes as he lay on the ground.
The most shocking was that member of a group of South Korean farmers climbed
over the temporary metal fence and committed suicide by stabbing himself in
the chest.
On Tuesday, hundreds of protesters marching through Cancun singing and
shouting anti-WTO slogans were stopped by police, who had set up barricades
at the entrance to the resort city's hotel district.
A group of European and Latin American parliamentarians took part in the
marches, serving as "human shields" and in an effort to use their presence
to "see if the protest could be held at the WTO meeting venue," said
lawmaker Pedro Marcel, of the Spanish opposition coalition United Left.
"We have official immunity. We thought we could use it so that (the police)
wouldn't crack down on the protesters and hurt them," he said.
Among the proposals of the group of activists - including those whose
slogan is "Another world is possible", related to the World Social Forum
movement, and the more radical anti-globalisation groups - is the demand
that the WTO change its course so that it does not remain subject, they say,
to the dictates of the wealthy countries.
Indeed, the path of the WTO in the coming months is not at all clear, as
deep divisions persist among its members on key areas of trade
liberalisation.
Carlos Pérez del Castillo, president of the WTO General Council, said in his
address Wednesday that he did not want to minimise the differences
confronting the organisation, but that he is confident that the delegates
will be able to overcome these difficulties to achieve agreements.
Annan, Fox and Pérez del Castillo coincided in urging the trade ministers to
make their greatest effort to promote the Doha agenda despite their
differences.
Annan blamed the rich countries for the problem of continued unfair trade
and, in keeping with what is known as the Doha Development Agenda, called on
the ministers to adopt special measures to benefit poor countries.
The EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Franz Fischler, rejected the veiled
accusations of Annan and the developing countries regarding the
protectionist measures the European bloc implements in its farm sector.
The EU wants half of its agricultural imports coming from developing
countries to be without tariffs and, for the 50 poorest countries, zero
tariffs, he said.
Fischler commented that the WTO's Fifth Ministerial Conference should take
the decisions necessary to ensure that the Doha Round can be completed by
the end of 2004, because if the meeting fails, it would be a bad sign for
the global economy just when it needs a push for growth.
The Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP), comprising 79
former European colonies, said in a communiqué that they want the
negotiations underway at the WTO to produce special measures that will help
them eradicate poverty and compete with the industrialised world.
Nevertheless, the ACP said it holds "little hope" that the ministerial meet
will end with an agreement on measures that will benefit its members.
(END)
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