February 4, 2002	Monday	Ziqa’ad 20, 1422

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MULTAN, Feb 3: A number of NGOs have formed a coalition in the Punjab to disseminate awareness about world trade organization (WTO) agreements and their adverse implications in a third world country like Pakistan.

This was decided here on Sunday at a provincial consultative workshop on globalization organized by the Noor Development Foundation in collaboration with Asr Institute of Women Studies.

NGOs from various parts of the Punjab participated in the workshop and vowed to launch a ‘don’t snatch our resources’ campaign against the WTO.

Speaking on the occasion, Noor Foundation chief Naeem Bukhari criticized the WTO regime saying it had been ignoring the concerns of Pakistan and other poor countries.

Economic powers negotiated only commercial deals and never took into account the impact of their past policies on the poor countries, he said. “As a result, the global trade system has lost confidence of many of its members,” he claimed.

Mr Bukhari lamented that requests of fair trade rules by the developing countries had repeatedly been ignored at the WTO forum from Seattle (1999) to Doha (2001).

He said demands of civil society, including protection of the development and promotional rights of local economies, food security, social justice, labour rights and environment protection, were not being considered at the WTO forum.

He said this reflected the limited trade competency of the WTO, adding that the conflicts of trade and international agreements should be resolved outside the WTO system.

Noor Foundation’s Roshan Malik feared the agreement on agriculture (AOA) under the WTO regime would bring more poverty in the world’s rural economies. In fact it was a threat to the food security of the poor countries, he said.

Official statistics showed that 33 per cent of the country’s population was living below the poverty line which meant they did not have food security, he said.

“After the AOA implementation, the ratio of food insecure people in the country will further increase,” he warned, adding “subsidies and support to the agriculture sector can not be done away.”

Others who spoke on the issue were Niaz Kathia, Amjad Ali and Rana Sarwar. Rana Muhammad Shafiq of the Green Circle Organization (GCO) was nominated the provincial coalition coordinator against WTO.