The Doha Round is not for us

Monsieur Lamy, du Cycle de Doha n'est pas pour nous !

The Doha Round is not for us!

Pascal Lamy is a man with a mission.  Since assuming the post of Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in September 2005, the former Trade Commissioner of the European Union has taken to heart his role as the captain of global trade, hoping to steer the 148 Member countries of the WTO into concluding a new multilateral trade agreement under the Doha Round the soonest possible time. 

In his report to the WTO General Council on 7 February 2007, Lamy said that "political conditions are now more favorable for the conclusion of the Round than they have been for a long time". His optimism stems from what he calls "the clear signals of renewed commitment to a successful conclusion of the Round" from statements and messages of support from international gatherings including ASEAN Summit in Cebu, the African Union trade ministers meeting in Addis Ababa, and most recently the gathering of economic and business elites in Davos.  Mr. Lamy has also heard the loud and powerful voices of the US President, the President of the European Commission, the German EU Presidency, the Japanese Prime Minister and Brazilian President all echoing their desire for full resumption of talks.

But while Mr. Lamy is all ears to the views expressed by politicians and big business, his "quiet diplomacy" has largely ignored the growing voices of opposition to the round from many sectors in the developing world.

The so called Doha Development Round was launched in 2001 promising to put the interests of developing countries especially the least developed among them at the center of the negotiations. Over the course of the negotiations however the agenda of rich countries for greater market access for their agricultural, fisheries and industrial products and for more open investment regimes for their services sectors have lorded over the interest of poor countries.

In all the major areas of negotiations, poor countries have already given more than they bargained for and yet they are being asked to sacrifice some more in the name of development. Developing countries have in a sense already agreed to further reduction of agricultural tariffs and consented to increasing tariff bindings and then to tariff reductions on industrial and fishery products.  What they are asking in return is for the US and the EU to reduce their huge domestic and export subsidies, flexibilities for special products and safeguards against import surges. Now even these demands for special and differential treatment and flexibilities are being attacked as stumbling blocks to a new trade deal.

Mr Lamy's mission in Indonesia and the Philippines is to soften the position of these two countries, which represent the leadership of the G33-grouping of developing countries, and get the commitment of these two governments to see the negotiations through. In other words, Lamy would be asking the Indonesian and Philippine governments to waver on their position for flexibilities and safeguard mechanisms. There are strong indications that he might just get what he wants. There are strong indications that the Philippine Government will capitulate.

In late July 2006, Lamy referred to the indefinite suspension of the trade talks as a period of reflection. Echoing this call, Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila vowed to conduct "wide public consultations" in the wake of the temporary impasse in order to "strengthen and consolidate the Philippine position on the Doha negotiations."

No such consultations were held. The Philippine government squandered the opportunity to listen to the sectors and to consolidate our position on these negotiations. If only Lamy and the Philippine government listened to the people they would have heard about the devastating effects of further lowering of agricultural tariffs on the lives of small farmers.  They would have heard the plea of trade unions against lay-offs and factory closures or the voices of the small fisherfolks demanding subsidies and not tariff cuts.  If only Lamy, GMA and her team listened to the people they would have heard one clear message: NO DEAL. The Doha Round is not for us!

We greet Pascal Lamy's quiet diplomacy to conclude the anti-development Doha round with loud shouts of protests.  The Doha round should be exposed for what it truly is, a market access round for rich countries.

It is now crunch time for developing countries like the Philippines. The Philippine government must now choose to either stand behind the peoples' interests, remain strong and firm in pushing for what's best for us, for our own development agenda, and walk away from these lopsided negotiations or it can surrender our national interests, stand behind Lamy and continue to sacrifice our agriculture and our industries for the promise of development that may never happen.