LAMY MEETS WITH ASIAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS IN HONG KONG

In Hong Kong to examine preparations for the WTO's upcoming Ministerial Conference there, Director-General Pascal Lamy exchanged views on 16 October with representatives from dozens of civil society organisations, many of them sceptical about the developmental effects of trade liberalisation.

At a forum hosted by the University of Hong Kong, Lamy was joined as keynote speaker by John Tsang, Hong Kong's secretary for commerce, industry, and technology, who will chair the 13-18 December summit. Both stressed the urgency of the current negotiations, and the benefits that an eventual agreement would hold for developing countries. Lamy reiterated that Hong Kong "must take us two-thirds of the way" if Members are to meet an end-2006 deadline for adopting a Doha Round trade pact, since a great deal of technical work would be required, even after the Ministerial Conference, "to translate Members' promises into binding commitments." Focusing on the need for farm trade liberalisation, Tsang warned that "time is running out" for the US and the EU to work out their differences on agricultural trade, and that "a once in a generation opportunity to do serious good for the developing world" was in danger of being lost. He did caution that liberalisation would be risky for economies dependent on preferential market access schemes.

Lamy defends WTO against sceptics

During the panel discussion that followed, Chong Chan-yau, executive director of Oxfam Hong Kong, expressed pessimism with the US and the EU's conduct in the negotiations. He argued that the US' much-ballyhooed proposal on domestic farm subsidies would actually allow it to increase such expenditures by some USD 8 billion (see BRIDGES Weekly, 12 October 2005). In return for such questionable offers, he continued, rich countries were asking developing countries to open their markets. "This is not how a development round should function." He stressed the need to place poverty concerns at the centre of the negotiations.

Richard Wong, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Hong Kong, contended that trade liberalisation was difficult because "the losers, who see their losses looming immediately, are better organised than the [more numerous] potential winners." Echoing Lamy's earlier comments that a substantial aid for trade package would "help translate theoretical trade gains into real trade gains," Wong said that the ongoing talks were "really about negotiating the compensation for the short-run losers so that in the intermediate and long run, everyone is better off."

The audience included migrant workers, Chinese farmers, trade unionists, and members of local business groups. Many charged that trade liberalisation had devastated livelihoods and exacerbated income inequalities in developing countries, arguing that the WTO's agenda was determined largely by rich countries and international corporations. One Filipino migrant worker said that many of them had been forced to leave their countries by trade liberalisation, so it was "stupid" to suggest that they should support the WTO because their lives were an example of economic globalisation.

Lamy defended the role of a rules-based trading system in protecting the interests of developing countries, suggesting that rich country agricultural export subsidies would not be facing the axe as part of the Doha Round negotiations if the WTO did not exist. He noted that income distribution and social welfare were matters for national governments, saying that "we [the WTO] are in the business of creating wealth... our Member-states remain in the business of distributing this."

Participants address civil society participation in the WTO

With regard to civil society participation in the WTO, Tsang said in his opening remarks that more than 1000 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had received accreditation for the Hong Kong summit -- ten times more than at the WTO's first Ministerial Conference in 1996. Lamy pointed to the WTO's public symposium, his own meetings with NGO representatives, and civil society organisations' ability to submit 'amicus curiae' or 'friends of the court' briefs to the WTO Appellate Body.

Elizabeth Tang, chair of the Hong Kong People's Alliance (HKPA) on the WTO, an umbrella group coordinating civil society activities around the Ministerial Conference, pointed out that civil society participation in trade policy formation was often determined by national governments, since some EU and African countries -- and perhaps even the WTO Secretariat -- were far more open to hearing NGO concerns than their Asian counterparts. Lamy said that he was open to an expanded relationship with NGOs. However, he pointed out that all NGO participation in the WTO would depend, in the end, on the organisation's Members. "NGOs have a voice, and Members have a vote. Having a voice and having a vote is not the same," he concluded.

Demonstrators blocked Lamy's car as he was leaving the meeting. The HKPA's Tang told the South China Morning Post that activists had not had the chance to submit petitions to the WTO chief, as promised by the Hong Kong government. Lamy responded to the protestors by getting out of his vehicle and accepting their letters.

ICTSD reporting; "Activists confront new WTO chief," SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST, 17 October 2005; "WTO head lends an ear to NGOs in Hong Kong," UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, 17 October 2005.