News

Caribbean Hopes Fade on More Aid for Trade

By Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Dec 5 (IPS) - A week before the start of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Hong Kong ministerial meeting, intended to reinvigorate floundering global trade talks, Caribbean countries say they are already losing confidence in the process.

"There is a feeling that issues germane to these countries have been sidelined," according to a statement by the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), which is coordinating the region's position at the Dec. 13-18 talks.

It has warned that key issues which the year-end ministerial was originally set to tackle have been scaled back, calling into question an ambitious outcome for the Hong Kong meeting and raising uncertainty over whether it will be able to inject momentum in the process next year.

Caribbean countries, already peeved at the position of Europe regarding the sale of bananas and sugar on the European market, argue that the Hong Kong meeting must address core development issues if it is to be successful.

They have joined with other Commonwealth heads of state, who met in Malta recently, in saying that putting development high on the agenda of the Doha Round is critical.

"Instead of permeating the negotiating agenda, the 'development dimension' has been in relegation, emblematic of how the round has been consumed by the interests of rich nations, as opposed to being centred on those of developing countries," said Richard Bernal, the CRNM's director general.

At a meeting of the Committee on Trade and Development earlier this month, Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Namibia, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa and Venezuela tabled a submission criticising what they described as attempts by developed countries to "sow division" among poor nations and "reinterpret the framework and trajectory of the negotiations".

Charging that some wealthy countries were undermining the development objectives of the Doha Round, the group argued for an ambitious "aid for trade" package to be launched in Hong Kong.

"On its own responsibility, the WTO Secretariat has in recent days attempted to highlight the broad parameters of the development dimension, to identify specific issues of interest to developing countries and to describe the potential gains which could accrue to developing countries from the conclusion of the negotiations," it added.

But the CRNM said despite this recent flurry of activity to bring the "development dimension" in focus, there is a deep disconnect between the expectations of rich and poor nations about the meeting's outcome.

Questions also remain about the nature of the development package that would ultimately be brought forward in any discussions on the issue in Hong Kong.

In a statement titled "A Development Package for Hong Kong -- What the EU is Proposing", the European bloc says the greatest development gains in the Doha Development Round will come through new market access in agriculture, industrial goods and services.

Included in the package are tariff- and quota-free market access for all exports from the world's Least Developed Countries, special treatment for developing countries, and guarantees for access to cheap drugs in WTO intellectual property rights agreements.

In addition, the Europeans are promising a strong "aid for trade" package similar to measures agreed at the G8 Summit in Scotland earlier this year.

But Caribbean countries are not impressed. They point out that at a time when the Doha Round is failing them, the WTO system is pushing Caribbean economies to the brink of collapse.

Caribbean sugar and banana-producing states say they are being held to ransom by the multilateral trading system, and a recent WTO ruling in favour of Latin American exporters against the 25-nation African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, former European colonies whose banana sectors have for years received duty-free access in the European market.

Late last month, the EU announced a new import tariff of 206 dollars per tonne for bananas imported mainly from Latin American suppliers. The new import regime will also include a duty-free annual import quota of 775,000 tonnes for ACP bananas, starting on Jan. 1, 2006.

George Bullen, chairman of the ACP grouping, labelled the EU deal as "draconian", while the Windward Islands Banana Development Company also expressed disappointment with the new proposals.

"We are amazed that the commission has taken it to that level, knowing the risk," said the company's managing director, Bernard Cornibert.

Caribbean banana-producing countries have already warned that they would not be relegated to a "position of third party bystanders" as Europe seeks to find a solution to its long-standing battle to introduce a single import tariff for bananas.

In a statement issued in Brussels following the ninth meeting of ACP trade ministers, the Caribbean insisted on being "part of any agreement reached, and wish to serve notice that we too are willing to fight all the way to Hong Kong and beyond, to protect our countries from the risk of even more poverty and destitution".

Regarding sugar, the Caribbean says it has been "woefully betrayed" by Europe over proposals to reform its sugar protocol.

"The whole issue is unfair," said Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has lead responsibility for agriculture within the Caribbean Community.

In a statement, Jagdeo said that the ACP states had been "subsidising the European consumers in exchange for long-term access" to the European market for their product. "But it seems as though Europe has forgotten that, and they think we are asking for charity today."

Caribbean countries say they will lose 100 million dollars annually as a result of the EU's decision to go ahead with a 36 percent cut in the price of sugar exported to Europe by ACP states.

The head of the Sugar Association of the Caribbean, Ian Mc Donald, described the agreement as an "outrage" and a "betrayal of the Cotonou Partnership, which advances the notion of safeguarding the benefits of the Sugar Protocol".

Europe argues that the Caribbean should turn its attention to redefining its trade and economic relationship, and has put forward an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that would "enhance competition, albeit in a managed and carefully weighted fashion".

"Hence our intention in the EPA context to first focus on helping build a single economic and trading space in the Caribbean and then very gradually liberalise exchanges with the EU," said Karl Friedrich Falkenberg, deputy director general for Trade at the European Commission.

However, the executive director of the Barbados-based Caribbean Policy Development Centre, Christopher Sinckler, says Caribbean states have not benefited significantly from the process of trade liberalisation.

"We can empirically show by evidence that liberalisation, unbridled, too fast, too deep, too widespread, is disastrous for Caribbean territories," Sinckler told a trade seminar. (END/2005)

Source: IPS News