ISLAMABAD, July 18: A seminar on South Asia’s approach to WTO agendas called on developed countries to take stock of the effects of trade liberalization on developing nations before proceeding with the current WTO negotiations. Speakers at the seminar, organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Monday, also urged Pakistan to protect its interests in the ongoing negotiations.

Aftab Alam of ActionAid International said development- related issues were being ignored as the rich countries dominated the WTO negotiations. He wanted the negotiations to be halted for taking stock of the effects trade liberalization was having on developing countries.

A clear strategy was needed to safeguard the interests of the developing countries as the current round of negotiations was critical. Their so-called higher tariffs of today were lower than the tariffs implemented by the developed world in the 1950s, he pointed out.

Mr Alam questioned the decision-making at the WTO, saying the decisions which were reached during the mini-ministerial and General Council meetings were imposed, and the “one-country, one vote” rule of the WTO was set aside. He said the General Council meeting later this month would help the developed countries to get maximum leverage for the Hong Kong ministerial conference in December this year.

Protection of agriculture and the basic services should be the main concern of the developing countries at the forthcoming ministerial conference, he said, adding that under the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), basic services would be under threat as these would be privatized.

Anwar Khan from the Ministry of Commerce backed gradual trade liberalization. He supported the idea of reviewing the effects of liberalization but said the stock taking should have been done much earlier.

He said the higher tariffs in the developed countries at a time when the industry was taking off were linked to quality and standards. But the developing countries have been oblivious to the quality and standards, he added.

His colleague, Anwar Ali Randhawa, said that due to large groupings in WTO, the member countries were unable to make democratic decisions.

He said agriculture was a complex issue having three main pillars of market access, production subsidies and export subsidies. He suggested that the developed countries should open their markets to developing countries’ agricultural products by reducing import tariffs and eliminating production and export subsidies in exchange for market access for their industrial products under Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA).

Abid Suleri of the SDPI said Pakistan must clearly define its course of action and come up with a firm stand in WTO in all its negotiations keeping in view the larger interest of its people mainly rural based agricultural population.