World Development Movement (WDM) today welcomed the fact that the EU and USA have been unable to force a bad trade deal onto developing countries as the trade negotiations stalled in Geneva .

Commenting on the reported collapse, Peter Hardstaff , Head of Policy at the World Development Movement said; “Ever since the start of this so-called development round, the EU and USA have consistently opposed, sidelined and ignored a string of development friendly proposals made by poor countries. After the WTO’s Hong Kong Ministerial Conference it was clear that there would not be a development outcome. In that context, the collapse of the talks is positive.”

A new WDM report (Missing presumed dead: Whatever happened to the Development Round?) tells the story of the Doha Round of talks from the abortive WTO ministerial in Seattle in 1999 and the launch of the round in Doha in 2001 to the most recent WTO meeting in Hong Kong [1]. It concludes that from the start the talks have been stacked in favour of developed countries interests and while a development outcome from the Doha Round was initially possible, any deal done based on the current negotiating texts would harm developing countries.

Peter Hardstaff continued; “This is not just a question of Europe and the USA not delivering the long promised agricultural subsidy reform. Developing country demands to be allowed to protect poor farmers and infant industries have been sidelined, and they have little or nothing to gain from moves to open up trade in services.

“There will no doubt be those warning of the collapse of multilateralism and the dangers for poor countries of being exposed in bilateral and regional agreements after not doing a deal in the WTO. But the WTO – and its already considerable body of trade rules - will not suddenly disappear. And the EU and USA will pursue bilateral and regional trade deals regardless of the outcome in the WTO. In fact, a deal in the WTO forms the baseline from which they start negotiating these bilateral pacts so only ratchets up the pressure on developing countries.

“The fact that the old EU-USA dynamic has recently changed to include a couple of other countries such as India and Brazil does not represent a significant move towards a more democratic WTO. Asking the other 120 WTO members to accept a deal stitched-up amongst the G6 [2] would not have been acceptable. If trade negotiations are to be democratic and the outcome fair, there needs to be a fundamental change to the way trade talks are conducted.”

ENDS

Notes:

[1] WDM’s new report ‘Missing Presumed Dead’ is available at www.wdm.org.uk/WTO/missingpresumeddead.pdf

[2] The G6 consists of: EU , USA , Japan , Australia , Brazil and India .

WDM calls for a democratic multilateral trading system which regulates international trade for the benefit of people and the environment.

About WDM

Founded in 1970, WDM campaigns to tackle the root causes of poverty. WDM believes that charity is not enough and aims to change the policies that keep the developing world poor. It is a democratic and politically independent organisation with 15,000 supporters and a strong role for its 100 local groups across the UK .

Contact:

Peter Hardstaff, WDM Head of Policy on 07711 875 345 or 020 7274 7630