kickAAS: When promises bite the dust

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« When pigs will fly . . . | Main | Yes, but what do the poor themselves want? »

September 07, 2003

When promises bite the dust

Oh dear. Here we go again. An article in today’s Observer says hopes of a breakthrough at this week’s international summit in Cancun, Mexico to boost Third World agriculture by removing subsidies have been dealt a severe blow. Even before the talks have got underway plans are in place for another unscheduled ministerial meeting early next year. If this is a meeting to build on what is agreed at Cancun no one would argue. But if, as reporter Nick Mathiason suggests it is because ministers have already accepted that agreement won’t be reached this week then it is absolutely shameful.
Trade ministers have become hooked on procrastination in the same way farmers have become hooked on agricultural subsidies. (Remember, rich countries spend $350 billion a year on subsidizing uneconomic agriculture – at the expense of developing countries who have natural advantages in that area - compared with only $50 billion on aid.)
After the failure of the previous trade talks to do anything serious about agriculture, the present round was supposed to be all about boosting development. Two years ago at the last World Trade Organisation ministerial in Doha the US and the EU signed a declaration calling for “substantial reductions in trade distorting domestic support” But instead reducing subsidies, the US administration increased them (by $180 billion over 10 years) and the EU agreed only marginal reductions and not until 2006. The US and Europe ought to be taken to an international court to justify why they have done the opposite to what they pledged to do.
The progress of the negotiations hasn’t been helped by the astonishing remarks last week of Franz Fischler, the EU agriculture commissioner who dismissed calls by developing countries for big cuts in subsidies as cheap propaganda and said that Brussels would strongly defend its farmers. Isn’t there anyone out there big enough to rescue these talks from the trough into which they are falling?

September 07, 2003 | Permalink

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Posted by: Christine Young | May 15, 2004 at 04:35 PM

"How to persuade rich, powerful countries to share their wealth with the other 80% of humanity when the people making decisions are accountable to their local populations, and they are not rewarded for pursuing the greater common good. " Good point.

This can be achieved only if the people in these rich countries want to do this. Only if the people in rich countries really want to share their wealth and improve the lives of poor people, really want to be fair to poor people (in trade mechanisms) to enable them to succeed, we can ever imagine the plight of the poor improving. Without this, any policing mechanism (international agencies?) cannot work, as rich countries will not abide by them when it compromises their needs. They will do this as have money and have less need for such agencies. What do you think about this?

Following the reasoning above, it is critical that that we win the support of people in rich countries by bringing to their attention the problems caused by agricultural subsidies in poor countries. If sufficient number of people are informed and support the cause, I feel that they will act to ensure that the politicians and officials change the policies. Unfortunately, this takes time.

One suggestion: So, Spreading the message is paramount. Overall it looks like the amount of information on the subject is not as much as I would have expected. Even when it is present, it is not in a form when it can easily grab the attention of people who have not been exposed to the topic before. For example, I have seen many articles on the impact of US corn subsidies on Mexican farmers, but I have not seen one on a real farmer on how his life has been affected by subsidies and his perspective. A real life story will help in making people understand and support the cause much more rather than statistics. Considering the number of farmers involved, I am sure that the stories are not hard to find. The best source I can think of for gathering such stories and publishing them are journalists of big publications located in such countries. They are close to the problem, can write and have a huge audience. It will worth urging journalists to write on this. So, if we try to reach out to some 50 such journalists and if even one or two likes the idea and writes such articles, I think it is worth it. What do you think?

Posted by: Rajesh Kandaswamy | September 09, 2003 at 12:11 AM

This issue still lacks momentum!

Please see my next comment!

Posted by: Paul Ross | September 08, 2003 at 09:12 AM

None of the big players want to be told what to do by anyone else.

Every politician also wants to be able to be able to engineer a solution that will allow their country to experience the benefits of global trade, while protecting their producers (if not their rivals) from the hazards and change forced by opening markets and encouraging trade liberalisation.

There is little or no genuine willingness to make the compromises and reforms that will be needed in order to share the risks and opportunities created by the existing form of gloabl trade...

We need countries to be bound to a democratised WTO, for poor nations to have fairer bargaining power, for there to be more rapid arbitration and for the penalties associated with deliberate rule breaches to be severe enough to discourage illegal bullying or speculative tariff barriers (which are often designed to bankrupt cheaper suppliers).

To be possible an independently financed and administered international agency (with teeth!) will be required. In the absence of such an arrangement, I feel there are grounsd to doubt that powerful countries are prepared to tolerate genuinely fair trade rules and enforcement.

Unfortunately, the G8 and other nations are powerful enough to operate outside any system that anyone else might propose, and have the option of establishing bilateral deals which favour them even more... and this is the crux of the problem for international development and poverty eleviation. How to persuade rich, powerful countries to share their wealth with the other 80% of humanity when the people making decisions are accountable to their local populations, and they are not rewarded for pursuing the greater common good.

Posted by: Matt Prescott | September 07, 2003 at 01:19 PM

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