Archive - 2003 - Article

Castillo said the meeting did not represent a breakthrough, and the Round is not yet back on track. But he was happy the members are in a pragmatic mood, ready to work.

Castillo said the meeting did not represent a breakthrough, and the Round is not yet back on track. But he was happy the members are in a pragmatic mood, ready to work.

'We have witnessed little real negotiation, gaps remain wide and there does not seem to be a sense of urgency,' the chairman, Carlos Perez del Castillo, told the meeting.

The social movements state that current liberalisation policies focus on increasing exports that satisfy the needs of corporations and threaten the livelihoods of the poorest.

'Derbez Text' Increases Trade Distortions, More Special Treatment for US and EU!

The US Commerce Under-Secretary, Mr. Grant Aldonas said that there was 'not a lot of incentive' for the US and the EU to 'lower politically sensitive trade barriers if poor countries refused to lower theirs.'

Instead of developing countries receiving more external financial resources, the reverse has hapened: there was a net transfer of funds from developing countries to developed countries amounting to almost $200 billion in 2002.

During the last couple of weeks, the WTO headquarters in Geneva has been an unusually calm and quiet place, after weeks of chaotic and untransparent negotiations just before the WTO Ministerial Meeting in Cancun.

As the developing countries, and some of their leaders (here and in capitals) show eagerness to resume the negotiations, the US and the EC seem to be strengthened in their view that they could demand and get a price from the developing countries for this.

Via Campesina, the largest international farmer's organization, and other organizations that adhere to the food sovereignty principle, call for excluding food and agriculture from trade agreements like the WTO, NAFTA and the FTAA.