1. Agriculture now centre stage at Cancun
2. South Korean NGO leader in WTO suicide protest
3. Globalisation Roundtable, Perth 20 September

1. Agriculture now centre stage at Cancun
Peter Murphy, Cancun, 10 September 2003

Over 10,000 campesinos marched up to the barricades at the edge of the Hotel Zone in Cancun today, lifted and flipped the barricades in two places, and broke through briefly before police forces re-sealed the barricades. Student protesters threw a rock barrage at the police and at least one was taken away unconscious. Many protesters were injured and some arrested.

The marchers opposed the World Trade Organisation moves to open up agricultural trade because this was pro-agribusiness and anti-small farmer.

Back at the Conference Centre, the question of the status of the text put forward on agriculture by the new Group of 21 developing countries was quickly resolved in favour of G21. The WTO Chairperson said that all proposals put forward by all groups on agriculture will be examined equally by the Agriculture Negotiating Group. That leaves the large substantive differences between the G21 on the one hand, and the European Commission and USA on the other hand, to be resolved somehow in the next two days.

WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told the media this afternoon that progress on all other issues did depend on progress on agriculture, even though all five Negotiating Groups will start work at the same time on Thursday morning.

Oxfam exposed the private negotiating position of the European Commission today to be a backdown on its positive public statements on agricultural reform.

The EC position also directly threatens Australia’s right to have single desk marketing authorities like AWB, which is the sole exporter of wheat.

Andrew Hewett, Executive Director of Oxfam CAA said, "The EU is attempting to rewrite the Doha mandate. The gap between their rhetoric and their negotiating position is astonishing and could undermine negotiations before they’ve even started".

In contrast to the strong position on elimination of export subsidies and reduction of domestic support for farmers taken by the Group of 21, the EC wants to delete all references to elimination of the export subsidies and to annual cuts in domestic support measures.

It also deletes the call by 65 developing countries to continue talking about the highly contentious ‘Singapore issues’ of investment, competition policy, government procurement and trade facilitation, and instead calls for these to be adopted now.

In the plenary today, the EU and the USA failed the test of fairness posed by the efficient African cotton producers, who have been devastated by the US$3.9 billion subsidy to US cotton producers.

Australia’s delegation has welcomed the G21 initiative, and the Cairns Group today expressed strong support for its proposals.

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2. South Korean NGO leader in WTO suicide protest
CANCUN, Mexico, 10 September 2003 (AFP)

The protest suicide of a South Korean man and clashes between demonstrators and police in Cancun overshadowed the first day of a World Trade Organization conference in the Mexican resort.

"We all regret this sad incident," WTO Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi said after Lee Kyang Hae, 55, stabbed himself during a protest. "This self- inflicted wound has resulted in his death, so we do regret it," he said.

A fellow militant said that Lee's act was meant to "demonstrate opposition to the WTO, which is killing our farmers and destroying Korea's agriculture."

Lee, who headed South Korea's Federation of Farmers and Fishermen, stabbed himself on the sidelines of a protest by several thousand people, which ended in clashes between police and a few hundred demonstrators that left several people injured.

Barriers and a massive security deployment kept demonstrators more than 10 kilometres (six miles) away from the convention centre where ministers from the 146-member WTO were seeking to relaunch a free trade agenda.

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3. Globalisation Roundtable, Perth 20 September

The next Globalisation Roundtable discussion will focus on the potential health impacts of the proposed Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) arising from the Liberalisation of quarantine restrictions & Abolition of GM labelling.

Presentations by:

• Professor Aileen Plant from the Centre for International Health at Curtin University. ‘The potential increase in infectious diseases resulting from the liberalisation of quarantine restrictions’; and

• Bob Phelps, Executive Director of Gene Ethics (via tele-conference), ‘Abolition of GM labelling and the Biosafety Protocol’

Also updates on:

• the latest round of the World Trade Organisation's negotiations in Cancun, Mexico;

• the General Agreement on Trade in Services; and

• the proposed Economic Regulation Authority in Western Australia.

When: 9am to 1pm Saturday 20 September 2003

Where: Conservation Council Boardroom, City West Lotteries House, 2 Delhi Street, West Perth (near the City West Railway Station).

Please RSVP by calling (08) 9322 1384 or emailing: bridget@mp.wa.gov.au

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