CITIZENS TRADE CAMPAIGN
"working together for social and environmental justice in trade policy"
http://www.citizenstrade.org/

The WTO (World Trade Organization) Ministerial in Cancun Mexico ended over the weekend without achieving agreement. Talks, for which expectations had been lowered in recent months, did not agree on changes in agriculture; continuation of the "Development Round" which had begun in Doha 2 years ago; nor did they reach agreement to start talks on the New or Singapore issues.

What Happened?

The WTO process is supposed to work by consensus - meaning agreement of all parties (the WTO now has 148 countries). Realistically this has meant back room arm-twisting and secret deal-making with pressure put on by the large and powerful economies to the lesser developed countries. The displeasure over this type of process is what ground the Seattle WTO meeting to a halt (with a little added pressure from the people on the streets!). In Doha, Qatar 2 years ago there were no demonstrators and with extreme pressure (and a Ministerial that ran over by a day) a new round was launched - with promises to deal with access to medicines and development of the lesser developed countries.

In the months leading up to the Cancun Ministerial, mini-Ministerials of smaller groups of countries have been held around the world. The goal was to reach agreement on Agriculture and start the talks off with that in Cancun. When a draft text was not out on-time in late August, and then was not the basis of agreement for the meetings in Cancun - the scene was set for the failed Ministerial.

Agriculture - Corporate Food

The economic methods for supporting farm interests in the US and the European Union are structured differently - but the impact on farmers in developing countries is the same, the smaller countries can't compete. The family farmers and groups working on "food security" (the ability for countries to feed themselves and support their farmers at a living wage) have spent the last few years organizing, educating and organizing allies in agriculture and other groups interested in Fair Trade over Free Trade.

The Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy pointed out: "82% of US corn exports and 65% of US soybean exports are controlled by 3 agribusiness firms (Cargill, ADM and Zen Noh (a part of Mitsubishi)". However, "US farmers have found that we are not going to export our way to prosperity".

This is because the profits go to the agribusiness interests which are the groups that US Trade policy is supporting. It was this group which insisted that developing countries allow more imports of US products while refusing to really reduce the export subsidies and supports in US Farm Policy.

Singapore or New Issues

The Singapore or New Issues are part of the agenda to expand the WTO coverage into many new areas - Investment, Services, Government Procurement, and Transparency/Competition Policy. On Friday 90 countries had said that they had no interest in beginning the talks on the New Issues. Yet when the last draft (supposedly for the purpose of agreement) was issued Saturday afternoon, it still included those subjects. For a group which requires consensus (meaning that all agree) this was felt by many countries to be a showing of lack of respect.

The representative from Kenya stated: "This is over. We have just had a second Seattle." Many delegates credited the protests in the streets, and the death of Lee Kyung-hae the Korean farmer who immolated himself last Tuesday while holding a sign that said; "WTO Kills Farmers", for the strength to stand up to the pressure and not open new talks into areas that will adversely affect their countries, people and environment.

What Was New?

Brazil, China, and India were part of the G21 a group of countries which stuck together, even though the US and other major economies twisted arms and insisted upon agreement. To quote ActionAid and others "The Brazilians have brought a sense of social justice to this conference which is a great antidote to the faux development agenda of the European Commission and the bullying behaviour by the US."

And who are the G21? Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Venezuela.
El Salvador ...left late Saturday
Nigeria ...new member.

El Salvador left the coalition late Saturday night, after bending to extreme pressure from the US. The CAFTA negotiations (Central American Free Trade Agreement) will clearly be impacted by this set of events as Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Guatemala are members of the CAFTA block (along with Honduras and Nicaragua). Nigeria replaced El Salvador, but many other countries as seen as wanting into the group now that they have had success in stopping the round of talks and preventing further inroads to food security.

Where Does It Go from Here?

The next round of talks in CAFTA is scheduled for September 22-26 in Managua Nicaragua. The following two sessions are scheduled to take place in the US - October 20-24 in Houston, and then a session in Washington, DC. The goal is to wrap up the talks on this agreement before the end of 2003.

The FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) Ministerial is scheduled for November 19-21 in Miami. There are on-going sessions around the hemisphere, but this is the next big trade meeting. With 12 countries (of the 34) which meet the US at the FTAA bargaining table being members of the G21, the failure at Cancun will loom large at the Miami meeting.

Who Wasn't in Cancun?

Labor and Labor rights were not invited to the table at the WTO. In fact the WTO had no hint of Labor Rights, the Right of Freedom of Association (the name on the international level of the right to organize a union) or labor in general on the agenda for the Cancun Ministerial. The ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) said in a statement issued Saturday: "The WTO must stop building ever-closer cooperation with IMF and the World Bank but refusing to recognize the role of the United Nations and the ILO in its work."

When the talks collapsed the ICFTU said; "This crisis will continue as long as WTO members refuse to tackle development, poverty, employment, and worker's rights." Since the only provisions on Labor in the FTAA draft text are that countries "will strive to ensure" that they don't reduce their labor standards in order to encourage investment - LABOR NEEDS TO BE AT THE TABLE at the FTAA!

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Failure of the WTO Ministerial at Cancun can appear to be an event that took place over 5 days - when realistically it is work that never stopped since the Doha Ministerial in November 2001. The thousands of hours of work and education and mobilization that succeeded was the work of people around the world. All of them deserve, and have earned a pat on the back. Then it is off to work further on CAFTA and the FTAA.