More than 100 civil society organizations from around the world demand WTO trade ministers to discard the Doha Agenda and begin a new multilateral trading system approach.
Civil society organizations, challenging the potential effects of a Doha Round as anti-development and serving the private interests of the biggest, mostly developed-country corporations around the world, call for (1) objections to the legitimacy of the June mini-Ministerial which does not allow for the effective participation of all Ministers and withdraw support; (2) the rejection of any attempt by Director-General Pascal Lamy to draft his own text for Ministers consideration; and (3) bury the Doha Agenda to start with a new approach to the multilateral trading system promotes human rights and people-centred ecologically sustainable development.

The NGOs, who have come from more than 30 countries, including the big WTO playersthe US, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia and India, as well as smaller countries like, Senegal, Uganda, Nigeria and Boliviahave made their demands explicit in a letter to trade ministers gathering in Geneva.

The demand letter declares, The current negotiations now preclude any possibility of benefiting the majority of the worlds people, particularly those living in impoverished developing countries. Instead, many of the proposals on the table will radically foreclose domestic policy options for developing countries.

Major powers, particularly the United Stated and the European Union, consistently block attempts of developing countries to regain control of some of that policy space, according to NGOs. The letter charges that the multilateral attempts by the EU, US, and the Director-General to cast the Doha Agenda to advance development are completely hypocritical, adding that they fly in the face of recent independent projections of what this agenda will bring for developing countries.

To try to push such an agenda to conclusion through a mini-Ministerial, in which a majority of WTO members will not be represented, can only do further damage to the WTO's legitimacy.

A series of economic reports on the projected outcomes of the Doha Round have concluded that most of the gains expected under the Doha proposals will flow disproportionately to rich countries while developing countries as a whole will be net losers. The letter points out that the negotiations continue to ignore serious agriculture trade problems, such as the dumping, while resisting concrete proposals based on livelihood security and rural development goals.

The letter also challenged the fuzzy computation of the US$2.8 billion Aid for Trade scheme by developed countries to help address adjustment costs in developing countries to ease acceptance of the liberalisation imposed by the Doha Agenda.

We are completely opposed to the current Aid for Trade mechanism, the content and timing of which will be tied to recipients acceptance of the liberalisation imposed by the Doha Agenda, the letter argued. The exchange is absurd: money will not buy back policy space; nor is there even new money on the table.

The letter was also sent to Lamy and the Chairs of the agriculture and NAMA (non-agriculture market access) negotiations. Among the signatories to the letter are Action Aid International, Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN), ATTAC, Berne Declaration, Center of Concern/US, Gender and Trade Network, Focus on the Global South, Friends of the Earth International, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Institute for Global Justice, Public Services International, SEATINI, and the World Development Movement.

Copies of the letter are available at <http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/>.

Sources:

Kanaga Raja. Mini-Ministerial not legitimate, says NGO letter to Ministers TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues. Downloaded 29 June 2006 from <http://www.ourworldisnotforsale.org/showarticle.asp?search=1652>

Time for a New Approach to the Multilateral Trading System: Over 100 Civil Society Groups Demand the Burial of the Doha Round (released 27 June 2006). Downloaded 30 June 2006 from <http://www.eurosur.org/wide/Globalisation/PR280606.htm>

TWN Info Service on WTO and Trade Issues. (26 June 2006). Sequencing the Ministerial" and Scenarios of the Stages it has to Clear. Downloaded from <http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twninfo439.htm>

_______________________. (25 June 2006). NAMA modalities paper criticised by NAMA-11. Downloaded from <http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twninfo438.htm>

_______________________. (24 June 2006). Members confirm deep divisions agriculture. Downloaded from <http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twninfo437.htm>