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Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Espinoza: Briefing on WTO talks
By Fred C. Espinoza
WANT TO KNOW. I hope members of the Arroyo Cabinet will conduct briefings on the results of the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Cancun, Mexico in various parts the country. The people would like to know how the country responded to the issues that cropped up during the talks, and what needs to be done for a nation to survive the competition in a global economy.
We should not ignore the demand of the people for greater transparency in the administration’s dealings with foreign governments in terms of trade and other business transactions. Besides, it would do well for our government to provide the citizenry with insights on the talks especially on the age-old issue of poverty.
Although we are all aware that poor governance also breeds poverty, the people might as well know also that a global money summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates drew to a close Wednesday with a “final plea for the world’s rich not to neglect their commitment to help lift up the poor.”
Finance Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho was among the representatives from developing countries who took part in the discussion during the two-day meeting. Camacho accused global institutions of the “credit-rating mentality,” which he called counterproductive.
But the more scathing accusation against the filthy rich came from no less than World Bank president James Wolfensohn. He accused the rich countries of spending hundreds of billions more on their militaries and their farmers than they do to helping the poor.
On the side of governments, Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz said poor countries were not looking for endless handouts.
“We do not seek permanent financial crutches,” he told ministers, bankers and economists from 184 countries. “We fully understand that the primary responsibility for a better life for our people rests with the governments of developing countries.” Afghan Central Bank Gov. Anwar ul-Haq Ahady said his country had made considerable progress in the two years since the US-led war that toppled the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban government.
To my mind, the holding of government briefings on the results of WTO talks would broaden the citizen’s grasp of the effects of living in a global village.
Following the collapse of WTO talks in Cancun, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo believes rich countries “will be more understanding the next time around.” But he warned that they would try to dilute the new bloc by negotiating one-on-one with developing countries.”
Meanwhile, we are reminded by a paper of the state think tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) titled, “Strengthening Bilateral Trade and Investment Relationship Between the Philippines and Latin American countries,” which exhibits great promise, according to Alexander Palma, author of the paper.
“There’s a good market for manufactured articles such as shirts, dresses, jackets and footwear and transport equipment, as these items constitute the bulk or 93 percent of total exports to Latin American countries in 2000,” he said.
I hope Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas II takes note of the paper and tries to resist the temptation of giving in to pressures from rich countries. This would allay the fears of a “sellout” by the administration.
(September 30, 2003 issue)
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