Issue No. 602
International
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 International |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Tortuous path to equality
Sugar was in the spotlight as participants in the World Summit for Sustainable Development prepared for final debates over trade and finance. Cornia Pretorius reports from Johannesburg
As members of Oxfam dumped buckets of sugar on a café to protest against European Union (EU) sugar subsidies and import quotas, they made it clear that the Europeans and the United States should prepare themselves for confrontation over their protective trade policies.
Of course, more than sugar is at stake. The sugar market is but one of many commodity markets that developing nations find themselves shut out of due to protectionist policies of industrialised nations. Talks about a range of topics including trade and finance, sanitation for the poor and renewable energy continued behind closed doors. These talks were supposed to lay the groundwork for the final talks regarding the Plan of Implementation.
Whereas South African government officials, who have been playing the part of mediators, were keen to create the impression of progress -- non-governmental organisations (NGOs) claim that the summit headed towards disaster. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in-between.
Environmental groups withdrew from informal discussions because they believed the summit was becoming another World Trade Organisation gathering, focusing on trade and economics and not on sustainable development. The EU and US also got stuck in the political morass of agricultural subsidies. This debate left the US isolated and prompted allegations that it was using other countries, such as Japan, to do the dirty work.
At least 100 heads of state came to Johannesburg. The G77, the G8, the EU, OPEC and a group known as Juscanz (Japan, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) are all expected to join the summit for these final round of negotiations.
Only two heads-of-state from major nations are shirking the summit. Vladimir Putin of Russia and George Bush have not attended the summit. Britain's Tony Blair arrived in South Africa on Tuesday after a stint in Mozambique. In Mozambique, Blair announced his support for efforts to eliminate the debt of Third World nations.
But as the red carpets were dusted off for the arriving politicians, approximately 4,000 activists staged a 10 kilometre march against globalisation and privatisation. In the aftermath of the Seattle and Genoa debacles, South African officials were not keen on the idea of allowing the protest. As a result, heavily armed riot police guarded every street corner as the Landless People's Movement joined by the Indaba, a coalition of civil society organisations from several countries, took to the streets on Saturday.
With the arrival of the heads-of-state, and the voices of grassroots organisations reverberating into the conference halls, the final week of the summit was defined by two major issues. Access to markets for developing nations, and eliminating subsidies in industrialised markets.
But whether developing countries have seized the moment to make enough noise about trade liberalisation and farm subsidies remains to be seen. Jan Pronk, a special UN envoy to the summit, said last week that he was shocked about the relative silence on these issues.
However, one of the other surprises of this week came from a high-ranking World Bank official. He acknowledged that the bank had not taken a strong stand against unfair subsidies in the past, but also that the nearly one billion dollars a day spent on farming subsidies presented a major obstacle to developing agriculture in Africa. Ian Johnson, vice- president of the World Bank called on world leaders to address the untenable situation. Heeding this call many leaders have made pledges of support to reducing subsidies. Putting his best foot forward, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said during the weekend that he was willing to reduce import taxes on the products of 48 of the poorest developing countries, provided they adhere to democratic principles. "We must give them access to our markets. When trade advances, poverty retreats," Chrétien said. Many in the developing world hope that the recent statements by Blair and Chrétien mean that the industrialised nations are willing to finally take action on this issue.
On Sunday night, Vali Moosa, South Africa's minister of environmental affairs and tourism and a key mediator, said that after 48 hours of virtual non-stop and very tough negotiations there had been "phenomenal progress" in discussions on trade and finance. Whatever the nature of the progress, any final agreement is likely to depend on who breaks rank with whom and who joins forces with whom.
The EU, for one, is not a homogenous group regarding the issue of agricultural subsidies. Traditionally an EU dark horse, Britain is swimming against the stream as it favours a reduction in subsidies, but France, Germany, Portugal and Greece are not prepared to give way.
Splits, divisions and trade-off continues to mark the final talks on outstanding issues. In the meantime, as trade and finance took centre stage, all has not been lost for the environmental lobby. The Kyoto Protocol made a return to the negotiating table. After language in the agreement was modified, the protocol was included in the Plan of Implementation. This modification in language could be the final hurdle in getting the necessary 55 countries to sign the treaty.
China is the world's second largest producer of air contaminants and pollutants, after the United States. China indicated that it was willing to support the modified document. The Russian government also stated that it would ratify the protocol.
The progress on the Kyoto protocol and the prominence of developing countries' views on subsidies and trade regulations signal that a measure of success may have been achieved at Johannesburg.
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