Full Steam Ahead!

Negotiations Move Forward, But Down Which Road?

By Thalif Deen

Some 99 percent of the disagreements on the issues of finance, trade and globalisation have been resolved, says Ambassador John Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda.

Ashe, who is the facilitator of the Contact Group dealing with those issues for the draft plan of action, told reporters yesterday that the remaining differences of opinion were down to only one percent. They were mostly relating to ''clauses and words,'' he said.

All three issues have been described as contentious and were carried over from the last Preparatory Committee meeting in Bali, Indonesia, in June.

Ashe said that delegates were divided over the issue of subsidies and globalisation. "These are the only two major issues that remain to be resolved," he said.

Daniel Mittler of Friends of the Earth International told TerraViva that there is a strong push to reach agreements on as many contentious issues as possible before the high level segment begins Monday.

“But in the process, texts are being watered down,” he said, pointing out that even the text relating to fisheries, agreed upon yesterday was weak. “It is better to have no deal than a bad deal,” he added.

In the unlikely event that no agreement is reached, Ashe said, the remaining issues may have to be taken up at ''a higher level''.

''If one thinks of a higher level, the immediate thing that comes to mind are the ministers," he told TerraViva.

Asked if delegations had asked for time to consult their capitals, he said there were some who did make such requests. But he refused to identify any of these countries by name. He, also refused to provide any details of the closed-door discussions.

On the possibility of the summit spilling over to an additional day if any existing deadlock is not broken, he said: ''That is for President (Thabo) Mbeki to decide. I have no comments on that."

If the remaining issues are not resolved, the summit will take the customary route: work round the clock with bleary-eyed delegates taking decisions in the wee hours of the morning.

"That's when our defences are down and our powers of resistance at the lowest,'' one Third World diplomat confessed.

But Jonathan Lash, president of World Resources Institute (WRI) pointed out that "international negotiations are like boiling water. Everything happens at the last minute."

According to Friends of the Earth International, the United States “often supported by Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (the JUSCAN group) “ continues to be the single biggest block at the summit.

The United States not only opposes any clear targets on sanitation, but also opposes any targets for increasing foreign aid as a proportion of developed countries’ gross national product GNP.

Additionally, it opposes any language that implies binding agreements on corporate accountability or establishes any process under which such agreements could be reached.