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Al-Ahram Weekly 7 - 13 October 1999 Issue No. 450 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 7 - 13 October 1999 Issue No. 450
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Interview Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters G-15 prepare for Seattle
THE MEETING of the Union of Chambers of Commerce of 15 developing countries (G-15) concluded this week by airing a number of complaints that should be dealt with before the next round of global trade talks. Union members held a two-day conference in Cairo to co-ordinate their positions ahead of trade talks scheduled to be held in the US city of Seattle in November.Participants, who included ministers of trade of G-15 member countries, emphasised that the Seattle round should address a number of urgent issues. Topping the list, said Mohamed Farid Khamis, secretary-general of the G-15's Union of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services, are the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), the revision of anti-dumping laws, the drop in exports of developing countries and the failure of the WTO textile agreement to achieve its objectives. On all of these issues, there is a big difference between the positions of developed and developing countries, Khamis added.
In regard to IPR, the stipulation of the Uruguay Round that some economic sectors such as agriculture, services and drugs must soon be liberalised is sure to have a negative effect on the economies of developing countries, according to Khamis. "The arbitrary and tough implementation of the IPR agreement will not only affect the local industries in developing countries but will also widen the technology gap between developing and developed countries," Khamis said.
In addition, developed countries have resorted also to arbitrary methods in imposing anti-dumping measures on exports of developing countries, Khamis said. "This has led to chaos in global trade and to a significant cut in exports of developing countries," he added.
According to Trade Minister Ahmed Guweili, the tough implementation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement in the past five years has led to a drop of seven per cent in exports of developing countries and a plunge of 15 per cent in global prices of basic commodities. "This, in turn, has led to a major deficit in the trade balances of most developing countries and a setback in the flow of direct investments into less developed countries. Two-thirds of global investments, estimated at $644 billion, have found their way into Europe and the United States. The remaining third went to developing countries. While Africa clinched a mere $7.7 billion in investments [last year], its share of global exports dropped from 4.9 per cent in 1997 to 2.3 per cent in 1998," Guweili complained.
Khamis also said that developed countries have not stood by their promises to open up their markets to the textile exports of developing countries. "They have adopted various forms of protection such as fees, new regulations and quotas to act as barriers against textile exports of developing countries," he added.
