Outrageous outbursts from anti-globalists- "Exempt Developing Countries From Economic Liberalisation"

Exempt Developing Countries From Economic Liberalisation

(12/8/2005)

Actionaid International has suggested that developing countries should beexempted from further economic liberalisation unless they themselveschoose to do so.

“In the General Agreement on Trade in Services talks, developing countriesare under pressure to open their service sectors such as education, healthand water to international competition” it said.

A release issued by ActionAid International said developing countrieswould be trapped in poverty, if they were denied the right to protecttheir economies against international competition."

Story source
http://www.graphicghana.info/article.asp?artid=9454

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My comments

So any postive expectations from the summit?

Not much as governments such as Britain seems to be backinganti-globalisation NGOs such as Actionaid and Oxfam to reject what theyterm ‘forcing developing countries to liberalise their economies', when in actual fact, more openness in the services industry will in the endenhance development which the Doha Round is expected to achieve.

The EU and the US should be cajoled until they withdraw agriculturalsubsidies especially.
There seems to be much progress already on this withthe EU, ala 7 December 2005, Financial Times COMMENT & ANALYSIS by LEONBRITTAN snd titled "My advice to Mandelson is hold tight".

Brittan said “Europe is now undertaking to cut its highest agriculturaltariffs by 60 per cent.Its average tariff will fall by half to 12 per cent. The offer alsopromises cuts across the board in all levels of tariffs, which is morethan happened in theUruguay round.

Pascal Lamy, the director-general of the World Trade Organisation, saidrecently that in agriculture there is already more than twice as much onthe table as there was in the Uruguay round.”

But what about Africa's own intra regional trade barriers? Only ten per cent of Africa’s total trade occurs within Africa not tomention that the United States Agency for International Developmentestimates that 70 percent of all tariffs in the world are erected bydeveloping countries against other developing countries.

The World Bank estimates that 92 per cent of the benefit to developingcountries from liberalising agricultural trade comes not from reducingsubsidies but from cutting their own tariffs. Sounds like we need more trade liberalisation on all fronts. Trade is not aone-way traffic!