Militants Call for Junking of WTO
As rich countries push for new round of talks on multilateral investment pact

Filipino workers and peasants will call for the junking of the World Trade Organization (WTO) when the latter holds its fifth ministerial conference on Sept. 9-14 in Cancun, Mexico. Their alliance, Anakpawis (toiling masses) will stage an anti-WTO camp-out at Rizal Park, Manila on Sept. 9-10. This will be followed by a multi-sectoral rally to be led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Sept. 13 in front of the U.S. Embassy and similar protests in the provinces.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com

The protests will take place as thousands of anti-WTO activists, farmers and workers from all over the world will converge at Cancun to call for the dissolution of WTO with others advocating reforms within its framework. The anti-WTO protesters, who will be joined by a delegation from Bayan and the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP – Peasant Movement in the Philippines) will also hold peoples’ forums and exhibits during the fifth ministerial in Cancun, Mexico’s showcase resort.

At a forum in Quezon City Aug. 22, Rafael Mariano, KMP Anakpawis chair, said that since the Philippines joined the WTO eight years ago millions of jobs have been lost. The country’s trade deficit has also ballooned to $5.2 billion, he added.

“Fair trade or free competition is impossible under the WTO,” Mariano said. He said that the competition between developing and developed countries “is like a boxing bout between Mike Tyson and Manny Pacquiao—it’s a mismatch.”

Because of this, Mariano said, the correct position is to junk the WTO.

In the same forum, Antonio Tujan of the Institute of Political Economy (IPE) said that people’s organizations attending the Cancun conference will seek to “de-legitimize the WTO and expose and oppose the deficiency of the Philippine position.” He said that although the Philippine government, along with other developing countries, is asking for trade reforms its main position remains to be pro-WTO.

New round

In Cancun, the United States and other industrialized countries are expected to push for a new round of talks on the so-called Singapore issues: a multilateral investment agreement, competition policy, government procurement, and trade facilitation.

On the first issue, there are said to be nearly 2,000 bilateral and regional agreements on investment but the economic giants, particularly the U.S. and European Union, are pushing for a global multilateral investment agreement under the WTO auspices to pry open the economies of the developing world for more aggressive foreign investment.

The agenda for a new round of talks is being opposed however by many developing countries led by India, Malaysia, Brazil and South Africa. Noting their dissent against the new round, IPE in a primer warned: “Under the investment agreement, the privilege and power of foreign investors will greatly grow while governments will lose the right to control their entry. This will cause the erosion of protection for the local industries and economy and give rise to the dominance of foreign investors.”

On the other hand, the proposed competition policy seeks to formulate a uniform competition policy for all WTO member countries. If such an agreement should be formed in the WTO, IPE said, “its member countries would be forced to implement competition policies not suited to their conditions and needs.”

Under the transparency in government procurement proposal, foreign investors will be allowed to take part in the procurement of needed government supplies. IPE asserts that government procurement is an important aspect of development since services and products purchased by governments could be used for pushing the economy forward. Services and supplies could be purchased from the local economy and invigorate local industries. But if this area should come under the helm of the WTO, according to IPE, governments would lose an effective tool for economic planning.

It is said that the issue of trade facilitation, which aims for a uniform trade policy for all WTO member
countries, is going to be disadvantageous to developing countries because the gap between them and
the developing world would result in an iniquitous policy.
 
Interestingly, while the Philippine government was among the leading supporters of the U.S. position in past WTO negotiations it has joined other developing countries in opposing the new round of negotiations. On the agriculture negotiations, it has criticized the U.S. and the European Union, the major players, for “their gross inadequacy of ambition” in reforming distortions of trade.

To charges that the Philippine government has yet to reveal its categorical position in the Cancun fifth ministerial, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, Jr. said last week that the government would move for the imposition of sanctions on farm imports heavily subsidized by rich governments. Government subsidies have made the farm products of the rich countries to become cheaper thus crowding out the food products of the developing world including the Philippines.

WTO backgrounder

The WTO is a product of a series of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The GATT is a series of international agreements which aim to remove restrictions to “free trade” among countries. Its goal is to serve as a guide for world trade within the framework of “free exchange” of goods, services, and investments among countries.

The WTO was born after the eighth round of negotiations on the GATT, which was held in Uruguay in 1994. It serves as an organizational framework for the implementation of the GATT. The WTO agreements are composed of the GATT agreements, amended in various negotiations until 1994, as well as other trade agreements.

Among the main GATT agreements are the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, General Agreement on Trade in Services, Agreement on Trade-related Investment Measures (TRIMs), and the Agreement on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).

Under the AoA, restrictions on agricultural imports shall be replaced with tariffs, while existing tariffs shall be progressively reduced, and eventually tariffication of agricultural products shall be abolished. It also provides for the removal of subsidies on local agricultural products for export. Prosperous countries like the U.S. were obliged to implement the agreement before 2000, while developing countries like the Philippines are given until 2004.

The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing aims to remove all restrictions to trade in clothing and textiles, one of the most protected industries in the developed world. Its goal is to liberalize the entry of clothing and textiles from the developing countries into the developed world. The developed countries are pushing for gradual liberalization in this case, unlike what they have been doing in agriculture and other WTO areas.

The GATS lays down the framework for the liberalization of service industries like finance, media and  communications, transportation, and professional services like health and education.

TRIMs aims to abolish all restrictions to the entry of foreign investors. Under the agreement, no country shall be allowed to impose requisites and restrictions on foreign investment.

The agreement on TRIPs is being pushed mainly by transnational pharmaceutical and biotechnological corporations. It provides protection for the “rights” of “inventors” or “discoverers” of products, designs or technologies to the exclusive use of or profit from these. Transnational corporations have been very strict in monitoring violations of intellectual property rights. However, according to Ibon Foundation, there have been many cases where indigenous knowledge and practices, as well as materials, have been claimed by these transnationals hiding behind the smokescreen of “intellectual property rights.” Bulatlat.com

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