WTO has yet to win over ACP states

Date: 16/09/1999

By Gareth Harding

THE deputy head of the 71-strong African Caribbean and Pacific bloc of countries Carl Greenidge warned at a recent conference in Brussels that "you cannot feed your children on a liberalised market unless you can produce for the market or have access to it".

Greenidge's remarks reflect deep-seated suspicion in many developing countries towards the current free trade system presided over by the World Trade Organisation.

They are not, however, opposed to the principle of greater market opening. Trade accounts for a greater share of ACP states' income than in most developed countries, but the problem is that the spoils of the market are not shared.

The European Commission has promised to take up many of these concerns during the Millennium Round. In a policy paper published in July, it outlined measures to better integrate developing countries into the world trading system.

First, the Commission aims to press industrialised countries to commit themselves to provide duty-free access to almost all products from poor states by 2003. Where tariff-free access cannot be guaranteed, it says developed countries should allow greater trading opportunities for developing states. "Improved market access is the biggest single contribution the trading system can make towards development," said outgoing Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan.

The Commission insists that ensuring the needs of the poorest countries are taken into account must be a specific objective of the WTO negotiations.

But developing countries also want the Union to open up its highly subsidised agriculture sector. At a recent summit between EU and Latin American leaders, the latter warned that failure to do so could lead to a breakdown of free trade between the two.

Article forms part of a survey on world trade, p13-20.