September 25, 2003	Thursday	Rajab 27, 1424

DUBAI: The rejection by developing nations of the policies proposed by rich countries at world trade talks earlier this month echoed loudly as the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) officially opened here Tuesday.

While representatives of the developing world continued to insist that their northern counterparts must give up more in negotiations, particularly the agricultural subsidies that hurt the world’s poorest farmers, officials from the Bank and Fund hinted that their institutions could address ways of becoming more democratic.

“We are disappointed with the outcome of Cancun,” Jean Baptiste Compaore, minister delegate from Burkina Faso, said in an interview.

“We wanted to tell the global community that in Burkina Faso over 40 per cent of the population depends on cotton. And if cotton is threatened, then the very objectives that we are all trying to achieve are going to be jeopardised under the Millennium Goals,” he added.

The United Nations established the Goals in 2000 as benchmarks for development. They include cutting by half the number of people who suffer from hunger and providing full primary schooling to all children, both by 2015.

The United States’ 25,000 cotton farms receive over three billion dollars a year in support. According to the International Cotton Advisory Committee, these subsidies lower world prices by 25 per cent, costing Burkina Faso, Mali and Benin around 200 million dollars annually.

“We can’t have double standards. We cannot be expected to open our economies and be competitive on a unilateral basis,” added Compaore.

“And especially with regards to cotton, we believe that the current situation is unfair but we’re continuing to engage the Bretton Woods Institutions (like the Bank and IMF) to try and make our voices heard.”

In response, World Bank President James Wolfensohn said in an interview: “I think the issue of voice is serious, and it’s one for our shareholders to decide in terms of voting. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were increased negotiations on issue and on voting rights. It seems to be that that would be coherent with the stand in Cancun.”

Developing nations and activists have long called for reform to voting rights on the executive boards of the Bank, IMF and other global financial institutions. That matter was to have been on the agenda of the bodies’ April meetings, but was shelved at the last minute.

Currently, 46 sub-Saharan African countries, for example, have only two executive directors representing them on the Bank and Fund, while eight rich nations have a single executive director each.

Directors from rich countries now control over 60 per cent of the votes at the World Bank and IMF, while the US administration has veto power over any extraordinary vote requiring a super-majority.

In his speech on Tuesday, IMF Managing Director Horst Kohler said, “It is very important, therefore, that global governance structures, including at the Fund, promote a broad inclusive dialogue that ensures that the views of all countries are adequately taken into account”.

“The breakdown of the trade talks in Cancun must be a wake- up call for the international community,” he added. “What is needed now is political will on all sides to overcome the impasse and return to the negotiating table as soon as possible. More than ever, success will depend on the leadership of the major industrial countries — and agriculture remains the key to unlocking decisive progress.”

New unity among developing nations will also play a role, says one activist. “I think it was very important this time in Cancun for the developing world to show a united front, as in the past the EU (European Union) and US have been able to push through their deals because of the absence of such a front,” said Oliver Buston, senior advocacy officer for Oxfam International.

“Now with this stance, they will be able to share their intellectual resources, analyses and capacity to negotiate on these really tough issues,” he told IPS.

For example, a recent Oxfam Briefing Paper argued that the only way to reach an agreement on agriculture would be to: prohibit all forms of direct and indirect export dumping; have an early harvest on cotton and other products of interest to developing countries; introduce new rules on domestic support, and exempt developing countries from liberalising their agricultural imports, he added.

But the experience of Cancun demonstrated that change is possible, according to South Africa Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel.

“I don’t think Cancun was a failure for developing countries. I think that we were able to communicate very strongly that we are a force, that we represent the majority of the world’s people, and that there will be no agreement about us, without us.” —Dawn/InterPress News Service