At WTO Caribbean Nations Make Allies With Former Adversaries
By Tony Best
Dec 27, 2005, 14:09
Hong Kong: Caribbean nations are finding substance and meaning in the Middle Eastern maxim "my enemy's enemy is my friend."
They are finding it in the links being forged to advance their cause in the global trade arena. For they are forging alliances with countries whose trading "enemy" is the developed world, especially the members of the European Union or the United States or both.
And the groupings come with interesting labels, the G20, G33 and the G90. Of course, there is longstanding ACP, African, Caribbean and Pacific grouping, all beneficiaries of a special trading relationship with the EU.
For Caribbean banana and sugar producers and African cotton farmers who are pushing for a continuation of European preference and for special and differential treatment for small and vulnerable economies, SVE's, have come together with states which were opposing each other on specific issues before the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Hong Kong. They have established blocs of "solidarity" or convenience to fight the perceived common enemies, the United States and the European Union.
"It's a matter of solidarity," said Dame Billie Miller, Barbados' Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade. "We have to come together as a group of developing countries in order to protect our interest and garner support for our cause. There is a clear understanding that we disagree on certain issues but we unite as allies to strengthen our respective positions on matters on which we agree."
That question of common cause among countries, which opposed each other on sugar, bananas cotton or preferences was evident in the formation of highly visible groupings at the WTO meeting.
Take the case of sugar. Although Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Belize are demanding the continuation of preferences for sugar, they have linked arms with Brazil, which hauled the EU before the WTO seeking the dismantling of sugar preferences provided to African Caribbean and Pacific, ACP, nations.
Why? To secure the backing of two of the most powerful developing nations at the ministerial meeting Brazil and India, the movers and shakers in the G20, a group of developing countries which are insisting that the European Union and the U.S. reform their agriculture, especially with regard to subsidies. China, Cuba and Chile belong to the G20, so too are Venezuela and Peru.
"We are dealing with solidarity here," said Dr. Arvin Boolel, Mauritius' Minister of Agro Industry and Fisheries who also happens to be the ACP spokesman on sugar. "We know where some of these countries stand but we have to prevent the tactic of dividing us in the developing world in order to conquer."
Both Boolel and Charles Savarin, Dominica's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Labor were asked about these unusual alliances when they held a joint press conference attended by African and Caribbean representatives and Glenys Kinnock, a member of the European Parliament and one of the most outspoken critics of the EU's policy on sugar and bananas.
Kinnock, a strong advocate for the dismantling of the subsidies which the U.S. provides to its cotton farmers that are hurting African cotton producers, said that what the developing countries were doing in the WTO is "unusual."
"These countries have to form alliances and sometimes they must do so with others with which they disagree on special matters," she said.
So, Caribbean producers and the Central American states which fought each other over bananas, an action which hurt farmers in St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Jamaica and Dominica all belong to the G 90, an umbrella grouping of ACP states and the world's poorest nations, the LDCs, the least developed countries.
Most Caribbean nations, including many of the OECS banana producers are also members of the G33, a group of 42 member-states, which are all concerned with agriculture. Nicaragua and Panama are also in the G33.
India has found a place under the G33 umbrella, despite their strident opposition to the preferences provided by Europe to bananas and sugar from Caribbean, African and Pacific regions.
"These alliances are important to us," Ken Valley, Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Trade and Industry told Carib News in Hong Kong.
Caribbean World Radio
By Tony Best
Dec 27, 2005, 14:09
Hong Kong: Caribbean nations are finding substance and meaning in the Middle Eastern maxim "my enemy's enemy is my friend."
They are finding it in the links being forged to advance their cause in the global trade arena. For they are forging alliances with countries whose trading "enemy" is the developed world, especially the members of the European Union or the United States or both.
And the groupings come with interesting labels, the G20, G33 and the G90. Of course, there is longstanding ACP, African, Caribbean and Pacific grouping, all beneficiaries of a special trading relationship with the EU.
For Caribbean banana and sugar producers and African cotton farmers who are pushing for a continuation of European preference and for special and differential treatment for small and vulnerable economies, SVE's, have come together with states which were opposing each other on specific issues before the World Trade Organization's ministerial conference in Hong Kong. They have established blocs of "solidarity" or convenience to fight the perceived common enemies, the United States and the European Union.
"It's a matter of solidarity," said Dame Billie Miller, Barbados' Foreign Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade. "We have to come together as a group of developing countries in order to protect our interest and garner support for our cause. There is a clear understanding that we disagree on certain issues but we unite as allies to strengthen our respective positions on matters on which we agree."
That question of common cause among countries, which opposed each other on sugar, bananas cotton or preferences was evident in the formation of highly visible groupings at the WTO meeting.
Take the case of sugar. Although Guyana, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Belize are demanding the continuation of preferences for sugar, they have linked arms with Brazil, which hauled the EU before the WTO seeking the dismantling of sugar preferences provided to African Caribbean and Pacific, ACP, nations.
Why? To secure the backing of two of the most powerful developing nations at the ministerial meeting Brazil and India, the movers and shakers in the G20, a group of developing countries which are insisting that the European Union and the U.S. reform their agriculture, especially with regard to subsidies. China, Cuba and Chile belong to the G20, so too are Venezuela and Peru.
"We are dealing with solidarity here," said Dr. Arvin Boolel, Mauritius' Minister of Agro Industry and Fisheries who also happens to be the ACP spokesman on sugar. "We know where some of these countries stand but we have to prevent the tactic of dividing us in the developing world in order to conquer."
Both Boolel and Charles Savarin, Dominica's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Labor were asked about these unusual alliances when they held a joint press conference attended by African and Caribbean representatives and Glenys Kinnock, a member of the European Parliament and one of the most outspoken critics of the EU's policy on sugar and bananas.
Kinnock, a strong advocate for the dismantling of the subsidies which the U.S. provides to its cotton farmers that are hurting African cotton producers, said that what the developing countries were doing in the WTO is "unusual."
"These countries have to form alliances and sometimes they must do so with others with which they disagree on special matters," she said.
So, Caribbean producers and the Central American states which fought each other over bananas, an action which hurt farmers in St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Grenada, Jamaica and Dominica all belong to the G 90, an umbrella grouping of ACP states and the world's poorest nations, the LDCs, the least developed countries.
Most Caribbean nations, including many of the OECS banana producers are also members of the G33, a group of 42 member-states, which are all concerned with agriculture. Nicaragua and Panama are also in the G33.
India has found a place under the G33 umbrella, despite their strident opposition to the preferences provided by Europe to bananas and sugar from Caribbean, African and Pacific regions.
"These alliances are important to us," Ken Valley, Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Trade and Industry told Carib News in Hong Kong.
Caribbean World Radio
