[asia-apec 1133] GATT Watchdog on WTO D-G Race

[Gatt Watchdog]

GATT WATCHDOG, PO BOX 1905, CHRISTCHURCH, NZ.
PH (03)3662803
                        MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE
16 May 1999

WTO Leadership Race Exposes Deepening Polarisation Over Globalisation

"There is a message to be learnt from the acrimony surrounding the unresolved
Mike Moore-Supachai Panitchpakdi race for the World Trade Organisation top job
that ardent free traders like the New Zealand government ignore at their own
peril.   It signals a very real sense of marginalisation and frustration among
a growing number of countries who question just who gets the goodies from
globalisation and makes the rules for world trade," says GATT Watchdog
spokesman, Aziz Choudry. 

"Many developing countries have long been sceptical of the supposed benefits
of trade liberalisation and warn that a new negotiating round with new issues
will further marginalise them. With the next round of negotiations due to
start at the Third WTO Ministerial Meeting in Seattle later this year, there
is likely to be pressure from 'developed' nations to expand the GATT/WTO
agriculture and intellectual property agreements, introduce issues like
competition policy, government procurement, and possibly attempt to resurrect
an MAI (Multilateral Agreement on Investment)-type agreement."

"Many countries were told during the GATT Uruguay Round that a brave new
world of borderless trade leading to increased prosperity awaited if only they
committed themselves to a global free market agenda now advanced by the WTO.
Over four years after its birth, and despite its claims to operate by
consensus,  the WTO maintains the dominance of the most powerful players in
the global economy - countries and companies - over the rest."  

"Look at the USA's track record on trade - one of Mr Moore's strongest
backers.  It bullies the rest of the world to open up their markets, yet
refuses to follow the same economic recipe itself. That is the reality of the
WTO - protection for the powerful - market discipline, regardless of the
costs, for the rest."

"When former WTO Director-General Renato Ruggiero was in New Zealand in 1996
he spoke of a stark choice that countries had to make - globalisation or war.
Yet globalisation and the narrow economic dogma that it promotes is
contributing to conflicts around the world, from the US-EU banana dispute, to
the spread of communal violence in many countries hit by austerity measures
and economic liberalisation, to the ongoing conflict in Chiapas, Mexico in the
wake of NAFTA.  Many of them have their roots in the increasing global
economic instability and inequity between and within nations as a result of
the acceleration of the globalisation process.  Regardless of how much longer
it takes to resolve the WTO Director-General position, those tensions will
continue to impact on APEC and WTO negotiations."

"And that will be a good thing.  Maybe then we can let the facts get in the
way of a good story for a change and take a long hard look at the poverty of
evidence in support of the claims in favour of further economic
liberalisation."

However, GATT Watchdog stands by its tactical support for Mr Moore's WTO bid,
announced last year.  

"Picture the consternation and confusion among delegates from the 134 member
countries listening to simultaneous translations of Mr Moore's descriptions of
critics of unrestricted trade and investment as "grumpy geriatric communists..
. a mutant strain of the left who tuck their shirts into their underpants" and
"primitives who if they had their way would plunge our nation and the region
into chaos and depression".  To have such a zealous free trader in the WTO top
job could blow the whole thing apart."

"The New Zealand Government continues to put itself on the extreme edge of
trade and investment liberalisation and blind faith in a free market model
which has failed to deliver benefits to any but a small handful, at great
human costs."
 
"Instead of pushing for the inclusion of new issues in the upcoming WTO round
we need a comprehensive, in-depth review and assessment of the existing
agreements and a moratorium on introducing new issues. But the New Zealand
government is so besotted with the free market, it does not believe that such
assessments are necessary".  

"Recent correspondence with several ministries about government support for
further liberalisation of trade in forest products confirms this view.  There
has not been any assessment of the likely impacts of such agreements on New
Zealand and the region's forests, nor are there any plans to carry one out.
Yet the New Zealand government is vigorously pushing to conclude a forest
product liberalisation deal."

"The heat, tension and acrimony surrounding the WTO leadership race is
symptomatic of a much deeper unease at the way in which the organisation
operates, and the dubious benefits from the policies it promotes which have
failed to trickle down to the majority of the population - globally and here
in New Zealand," said Mr Choudry.
For further comment: contact Aziz Choudry, GATT Watchdog (03) 3662803