Although the World Trade Organization is not the South's favourite negotiating platform, the latter must strengthen itself against the Northern moves
IT is an irony that the Group of
77 (G-77) - a caucus of over
130 developing nations in the
United Nations (uN) system -
originally created at the first UN
Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) is the
only global forum where
meaningful global trade negotiations take place.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor
General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT), is understandably, not the South's favourite forum for global dialogue.
However, after the recent stripping down of the UNCTAD'S
mantle and the steady erosion of its secretariat's efficacy as a
credible think-tank for developing countries, the WTo has
become the single most important negotiating forum for
issues on trade and development.
The negotiations now taking place at the WTo are not only
going to affect the trade rules for the next century, but could
effectively determine how and which developing country progresses along which particular lines in future.
The very fears that had first spurred the South to unite
under the banner of G-77 in 1963 - the creation of a global
order that would take away from the South the token ability to
make their own developmental decisions - are now realising
the reality around those polished tables at the majestic WTO
office on the Rue de Lusanne in Geneva.
Officially, an institutional decision has been made by the
WTO (and the GAT-r before it) to bar the G-77 from representation; unofficially, a bruised G-77 suffering from pangs of self-
doubt seems to have given up on the fight and resigned to
being a mere bystander.
This is not to say that the South has sat entirely helpless at
the WTO. Regional coalitions, particularly countries of the
Association of South East Asian Nations have played a leadership role at the negotiations, and the forthcoming wTo magisterial meeting in Singapore promises to witness a spirited fight from the South.
However, the absence of an organised G-77 has
already cost the developing countries dearly. Arguably,
an organised G-77 at the WTO would even help the interests
of the Organisation's leadUship by streamlining the
deliberations and allowing the developing countries to
arrive at a joint platform, instead of taking the discussion
into all sorts of trajectories as each country pushes for its own
particular micro-interests.
Common platform negotiation by the South at the
WTO/GATT under the G-77 banner has long been considered a
theorem in impossib4lity by
several Northern as well as
Southern nations. However,
the historical precedents for
considering it as such no
longer exist. With the UNCTAD
reduced in size, scope and
significance, the South can no longer afford to ignore
the WTo and chant the mantra of the UNCTAD being the
more important global 6ade organisation. Simultaneously,
the bosses in Geneva can no longer live under the
false assumption that the Qnly capitals they owe allegiance to
are in North America an@ western Europe. Neither can now
claim any justification for why the G-77 is still not operable at
the WTO.
Having said all of the above, it is unrealistic for the developing country delegates at, the WTO to wait for an invitation
from the organisation to muster themselves under a G-77 (or a
similar) structure. In 1963; it was not the UNCTAD that formally
invited the South to uniteltself, that was the South's decision
emerging from the necessities of time, and enacted with significant opposition from the North. It is time for another such
decision to be taken, which eventually might become even
more historic.
Whether the G-77 is immediately admitted to the WTo as
an institutional entity in many is not the point. The point is
that the developing countries of the South must act in unison
at the preparatory, position-formulation stage of these negotiations. These negotiations, their acceptance within the
official rosters, will only be a matter of time and anyhow, will
become academic.
To call for the developing countries to organise themselves
at the WTO is not a call for a new confrontation; it is exactly
what it is purported to be - a call for better organisation. The
industrialised North is getting increasingly better prepared
for this complex set of negotiations. The only way that the
developing countries can be well prepared is by being well
organised.
Adil Najam is a member of the Environmental Policy Group, Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Masachussetts Institute of Technology, US, and is affiliated with the Program on Negotiation at the Harvard School
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.