[DEBATE] : Africa’s show of unity in trade talks laudable

[Riaz K Tayob]

Editorial

  Africa’s show of unity in trade talks laudable

If the developments at the just-concluded African Union (AU) ministerial 
conference on World Trade Organisation talks are anything to go by, 
there is a real danger of failure to conclude ongoing Doha round of free 
trade negotiations.

In the words of WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, the refusal by the big 
players — the European Union, the United States, Brazil and India — "to 
make real offers that can facilitate the signing of an agreement" is to 
blame for the stalemate.

Billed as the development round of the WTO-fronted effort to free global 
trade, the ongoing negotiations have their foundation in the idea that 
the best way to fight mass poverty in places where it has become 
endemic, such as Africa is to increase the volume of trade among nations 
— instead of continuing to pump in money in the form of aid.

This is an approach on which nearly all WTO members are agreed. Yet the 
negotiations have not been made any easier. The negotiations have faced 
numerous pitfalls since they began nearly six years ago.

At the centre of it all are differences over what the various parties 
see as the best way to realise the stated objective of this round of 
negotiations. While poor nations have been pushing their counterparts in 
the developed world to effect reform measures that will improve their 
access to agricultural markets, the developed world has been pushing the 
developing countries to open up their markets for their industrial products.

The United States has been particularly reluctant to cut down on the 
subsidies it offers its farmers in sub-sectors such as cotton while the 
European Union has not been forthcoming on tariff reduction for 
agricultural products entering its markets.

Then there is the Brazil, India axis that is recalcitrant on tariffs on 
industrial products entering their markets.

The problem for Africa is that all these three parties are coming into 
the international arena as allies while pointing an accusing finger at 
other parties.

With only a few days remaining to the end of the month — the date by 
which the parties should have struck a deal — there is little hope that 
these parties will soften the hard stance they have taken on the talks.

The reality, however, is that there is an urgent need to reach an 
agreement before the end of the year. This is particularly because the 
United States — a key party in the negotiations — has in place a law 
that gives its executive the authority to negotiate a new global trade 
agreement that expires at the end of the year.

Those who have been closely following on-goings in Washington say 
Congress is unlikely to renew this mandate. This makes it a do-or-die deal.

Despite the lack of progress, the Nairobi meeting was for Africa a 
milestone in the quest for a just global trade framework. It marked one 
of the rare occasions when the continent showed unity of purpose in 
pursuit of an agenda that is clearly in their common interest.
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