NGO thumbs down is latest blow for WTO
Organisations such as Action Aid International, Friends of the Earth and Focus on the Global South, said analyses by the World Bank, the United Nations and several international think tanks show that most of the proposed gains from an agreement would flow to the developed world.
Their view is in stark contrast to many of the trade ministers meeting in Geneva today, who say lifting millions out of poverty is one of their aims in seeking agreement on slashing farm subsidies and import duties, and deep cuts in industrial goods’ tariffs.
The thumbs down from non-governmental organisations is the latest in a series of blows for these WTO talks.
The agreement in Hong Kong helped least developed countries (LDCs), around 30 of which are WTO members, for example by allowing most of their exports to be exempt from duties or quotas in rich countries by 2008. But LDCs were unhappy with this deal because they said barriers were left in place in key trade sectors such as textiles and leather.
* A TEAM of Irish government officials and lobbyists will follow the WTO negotiations in Geneva.
Already, Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan has been lobbying her counterparts in other EU member states to protect EU agriculture and the CAP in the WTO talks.
IFA president Pádraig Walshe has written to the Taoiseach to express concerns about the latest agriculture proposals put by the WTO to trade ministers.
ICOS and the Irish Dairy Industries Association have highlighted the threat to competitiveness and development in Irish dairying posed by the WTO proposals.
