Poor countries getting a raw trade deal

THE Labour Resource and Research Institute (LaRRi) has launched a publication which deals with the ongoing WTO trade issues and their implications on African countries, including Namibia.

The 42-page booklet, entitled ‘More trade, less jobs and more poverty’, analyses the seemingly unfair way current trade negotiations are carried out and agreements are concluded. At a media and stakeholders briefing in Windhoek yesterday, LaRRi Director Hilma Shindondola said most people found international trade language too technical, and hence the publication of this book to simplify issues for everyone.The booklet would also serve to give a deeper understanding and portray the true nature of these talks.Shindondola said it was said that in Namibia – which is a member of the World Trade Organisation – there was still little debate on trade issues.”What people …are against, is the idea that any form of international trade is good and acceptable and have to be accepted without questioning, no matter how much we are compromising our principles as poor countries.The belief is that international trade negotiations will be accepted if so-called poor countries do not have to go against the interests and well-being of their own people to satisfy the terms of reference of the G8s (eight richest economies) of this world,” she said Namibia is also part of the SADC group involved in a free-trade agreement with the European Union known as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), as well as negotiating for global free trade within the WTO.This SADC-EPA configuration consists of Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania.The talks are said to favour the EU, which has the been a major trading partner and main donor of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries – with which is it negotiating.LaRRi has joined the bandwagon of civil organisations from around the world that have denounced these trade negotiations and agreements, saying they only benefit the developed countries.”As civil society organisations, we commit ourselves to strengthen our continent-wide solidarity and action, and to further strengthen our interactions with our allies from the ACP and all over the world to take forward the struggle to stop the EPAs,” said the book.Speaking at the occasion, firebrand Meatco researcher Wallie Roux said the need by the EU to have the EPAs negotiations concluded and an agreement signed by year-end was something to be very cautious of.”If you are unwise enough to rush for a deadline without looking at the content of the agreement, then you are signing away your life,” he said.Roux is currently doing a study on the effects of the envisaged EPA with the EU on the local beef industry.Roux said the WTO rules and agreements were mostly good in theory but a different tune altogether when it came to implementation and practicality.”There are few things wrong with this whole so-called international rules-based trading system.In principle, it is an excellent system based on legal foundations, but in practice it is a system that currently only benefits the developed countries,” he said.Roux said Namibia was in a catch-22 situation.If the country was not part of the system, it was going to lose out.And yet, if it remained in the system, the country would continue to be marginalised.”The ultimate solution – should we pick the best of the worst scenarios? Civil society needs to make the population aware of what could be expected from such negotiations, while the private sector should try and gain as much for the country as possible on the one hand, while trying to prevent as much damage on the other hand.”Roux, however, stated that the EU had underestimated and misjudged SADC, thinking it would be able to steamroll its way with the region in these negotiations.He also dismissed the latest offer by the EU to eliminate all tariffs and quotas on imports from the ACP countries states from January next year, saying it had nothing to do with SADC and would not benefit the region in any way – due to conditions attached – if it indeed became a reality.At a media and stakeholders briefing in Windhoek yesterday, LaRRi Director Hilma Shindondola said most people found international trade language too technical, and hence the publication of this book to simplify issues for everyone.The booklet would also serve to give a deeper understanding and portray the true nature of these talks.Shindondola said it was said that in Namibia – which is a member of the World Trade Organisation – there was still little debate on trade issues.”What people …are against, is the idea that any form of international trade is good and acceptable and have to be accepted without questioning, no matter how much we are compromising our principles as poor countries.The belief is that international trade negotiations will be accepted if so-called poor countries do not have to go against the interests and well-being of their own people to satisfy the terms of reference of the G8s (eight richest economies) of this world,” she said Namibia is also part of the SADC group involved in a free-trade agreement with the European Union known as the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), as well as negotiating for global free trade within the WTO.This SADC-EPA configuration consists of Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland Mozambique, Angola and Tanzania.The talks are said to favour the EU, which has the been a major trading partner and main donor of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries – with which is it negotiating.LaRRi has joined the bandwagon of civil organisations from around the world that have denounced these trade negotiations and agreements, saying they only benefit the developed countries.”As civil society organisations, we commit ourselves to strengthen our continent-wide solidarity and action, and to further strengthen our interactions with our allies from the ACP and all over the world to take forward the struggle to stop the EPAs,” said the book.Speaking at the occasion, firebrand Meatco researcher Wallie Roux said the need by the EU to have the EPAs negotiations concluded and an agreement signed by year-end was something to be very cautious of.”If you are unwise enough to rush for a deadline without looking at the content of the agreement, then you are signing away your life,” he said.Roux is currently doing a study on the effects of the envisaged EPA with the EU on the local beef industry.Roux said the WTO rules and agreements were mostly good in theory but a different tune altogether when it came to implementation and practicality.”There are few things wrong with this whole so-called international rules-based trading system.In principle, it is an excellent system based on legal foundations, but in practice it is a system that currently only benefits the developed countries,” he said.Roux said Namibia was in a catch-22 situation.If the country was not part of the system, it was going to lose out.And yet, if it remained in the system, the country would continue to be marginalised.”The ultimate solution – should we pick the best of the worst scenarios? Civil society needs to make the population aware of what could be expected from such negotiations, while the private sector should try and gain as much for the country as possible on the one hand, while trying to prevent as much damage on the other hand.”Roux, however, stated that the EU had underestimated and misjudged SADC, thinking it would be able to steamroll its way with the region in these negotiations.He also dismissed the latest offer by the EU to eliminate all tariffs and quotas on imports from the ACP countries states from January next year, saying it had nothing to do with SADC and would not benefit the region in any way – due to conditions attached – if it indeed became a reality.