wfn.org | Church World Service Says WTO Meeting a Lost Opportunity

["Lesley Crosson" <lcrosson@churchworldservice.org>]

Church World Service Says WTO Meeting a Lost Opportunity

NEW YORK / WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec.22, 2005  * "The lost opportunity to
address the development needs of even the poorest of the poor countries by
this meeting reveals the dismaying role of richer countries," summarized
advocacy management of global humanitarian agency Church World Service
(CWS) on the recent meetings of the World Trade Organization.

"The wealthy industrialized countries squarely refused even to consider
the global impact of their $300 billion in domestic agricultural subsidies, and only grudgingly agreed to end a mere $5 billion in export subsidies
on agricultural products by 2013," observed Rajyashri Waghray, director of
the CWS Education and Advocacy Program.

Domestic farm subsidies, rather than export subsidies, are the major
reason why exported U.S. and European goods unfairly force down the prices
of cotton and basic grains such as corn and rice, explains Waghray.
Referred to as “dumping,” this practice can bankrupt small farmers and
devastate rural employment in developing countries. But this form of
subsidies was untouched by the Hong Kong agreement.

While wealthy countries agreed to open their markets to products from the
least developed countries, they can still protect three percent of their
product lines. Martin Shupack, CWS Associate Director for Public Policy,
comments, "This does not sound like much, but it means that they [wealthy
countries] can effectively block imports of important products from
developing countries, such as textiles and sugar."

Framework agreements on services, such as banking, telecommunications,
water, and healthcare, as well as on non-agricultural and manufactured
products, create new peril for developing countries. A new approach to
services negotiations will put greater pressure on developing countries to
privatize essential services and open them up to ownership by multinational corporations.

The resulting price increases may further burden impoverished communities.
The tariff reduction formula adopted at Hong Kong for manufactured
products is expected to lead to further deindustrialization and greater
unemployment, according to Shupack.

Waghray notes that developing countries did gain some ability to provide
limited protection from harmful liberalization for some self-designated
"special products." They will also have recourse to “special safeguard
measures,” which could be invoked in the face of import surges or
especially low import prices. However, the details of these protections
have yet to be determined, and the rich countries clearly have retained
much more ability to protect their own markets.

Waghray points out that "the small concessions won by the poor countries
were achieved through their grit and determination to sink or sail
together."

The Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director and CEO of CWS, decried
the "growing inequality" between rich nations and poor nations, which "the
Hong Kong agreements do nothing to reverse." He went on to say, "It
violates the bonds of human community when billions of our fellow human
beings are marginalized, oppressed, and nearly crushed under an intolerable weight of hunger, poverty, disease, and hopelessness."

Church World Service is engaged with networks of communities practicing
sustainable development in ways that model alternatives to policies
currently in place. In particular, Waghray points to work with the
Southern Africa economic justice network and engagement with South
Africa's Minister of Trade and Industry, Mandisi Mpahlwa. CWS plans to
undertake similar work through regional partners in Brazil, Argentina, and
India, as well as elsewhere in Africa.

Media Contacts:

Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676; lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin (24/7), 781-925-1526; jdragin@gis.net