HONG KONG, Dec 16: Poor countries on Friday formed a powerful bloc comprising 110-member countries to mount pressure on rich countries, particularly the European Union, to yield some gains in the agriculture sector as negotiations entered the fourth crucial day of the ministerial conference.
The new bloc, representing both developing and least developing countries (LDCs), was announced at a joint press conference after the meeting of the heads of delegation of G-20, G-33, the ACP, the LDCs, the African group and the small economies.
Non-government organisations like Actionaid International, Oxfam International, Cuts International and CAFOD in separate statements welcomed the creation of the bloc and said that the alliance was a “development dream team” and left the EU and US looking “isolated” on the sidelines.
“Now the gloves are off. Poor countries have come together to form an alliance that represents most of the planet’s population. The group has a common set of demands and can put the fight against poverty at the heart of the trade talks,” remarked by Aftab Alam of Actionaid.
Addressing the press conference Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim on behalf of G-20 said that the 110 members of the 150 of the WTO represented three-fourth world population. “We are united on one thing that is the development round,” he added.
The Zambian Minister of Commerce Dipat K.A. Patel, who is also the coordinator of LDCs, said: “Our position is very clear. We are not interested at all in promises. We are not interested in post-dated cheques without any money in the bank. We are not interested in such language. What we want to know is that how and when we would get some thing.”
Others, who spoke on the occasion, included Indian Minister Kamal Nath, ACP group coordinator Madun Dullo and African Union’s coordinator Rachid Mohammed Rachid. They asked the rich nations to accept the porr countries’ demands.
According to the joint statement, the group reiterated its commitment to a successful conclusion of the round by end of 2006. They also reiterated their shared interest in the development dimension of the round and their expectations for a comprehensive development outcome.
The group agreed that the round should result in the removal of distortions that inhibit the export growth of developing countries and the provision of adequate policy space to ensure their sustainable socio-economic development. They called upon developed countries to agree to completely eliminate export subsidies by 2010 while addressing concretely the specific needs of LDCs.
The groups recognized the importance of substantial improvements in market access for products of export interest from developing countries in developed countries’ markets. They also recognized the need to address the consensus of countries treated preferentially. They committed to work together with a view to finding creative solutions on the basis of paragraph 44 of the July 2004 framework agreement.
The groups emphasized the importance of special and differential treatment in all three pillars of agriculture negotiations.
In this context the stressed the role of special products and special safeguard mechanism (SSM) as means of addressing the food security, rural development and livelihood concerns of developing countries in the market access pillar.
The groups reaffirmed its support to the LDC demands for duty-free and quota-free market access and recognised the need for a concrete outcome in the Hong Kong on the issue. The groups stressed the need for a firm commitment to be made at the Hong Kong round to address the issue of cotton “ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically”. They also recognized the need to adopt specific measures to provide adequate responses to trade related issues raised by small and vulnerable economies.
