1. Whither the WTO after Cancun? Sydney WTO report back, 14 October
2. Canberra USFTA rally, 27 October
3. Failed Cancun talks throw up new trade power

1. Whither the WTO after Cancun? Sydney WTO report back, 14 October 5.30 pm

Reports from the World Trade Organisation meeting in Cancun

Why did the WTO Ministerial Conference in Mexico collapse? What does this mean for the future of the WTO, and for the future of international trade? Find out at this public seminar with speakers who attended the meetings in Cancun.

When: Tuesday 14 October, 5.30 pm

Where: Room 814 Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney

Chair: Andrea Durbach, Director, Public Interest Advocacy Centre

Speakers:

Andrew Hewett, Executive Director, Oxfam Community Aid Abroad and

Dr Patricia Ranald, Principal Policy Officer, Public Interest Advocacy Centre, and Convenor, Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network

For further information contact Louise Southalan at AFTINET on (02) 9299 7833 or email lsouthalan@piac.asn.au

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2. Canberra USFTA rally, 27 October

The next round of USFTA negotiations will take place in Canberra in the week starting 27 October. Come to a lunchtime rally at 12.30 pm at Parliament House Canberra to voice your concerns about these negotiations, which threaten Australian social policies, such as reference pricing in the PBS, and local content rules for film and television. The agreement will reduce the capacity of government to regulate and give much greater rights to multinational corporations.

Where: Parliament House, Canberra

When: 12.30 pm, Monday 27 October

Speakers: Doug Cameron (National Secretary, AMWU), as well as Senator Kerry Nettle (The Greens) and speakers from The Democrats and The ALP.

A bus has been booked for a return trip from Sydney to Canberra. Tickets cost $25.00. Contact George on 0412 704 426 to make a booking. George is also coordinating car pooling for the journey from Sydney to Canberra and back.

Come along and bring your banners and signs: make your voice heard about this agreement, which is due to be signed at the end of the year.

For further information contact Louise Southalan at AFTINET on (02) 9299 7833 or email lsouthalan@piac.asn.au

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3. Failed Cancun talks throw up new trade power

Reuters 15 September 2003, Extract from report by Richard Waddington

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - As weary ministers fly out of this glitzy beach resort on Monday following the dramatic collapse of world free trade talks, one group at least feels it has something to smile about. A new alliance of more than 20 developing countries, with Brazil, India and China at its heart, emerged as a major force during five days of ultimately fruitless discussions at this Mexican beach resort and looks set to stay a power in world trade politics.

States remain deeply divided, notably over how far and how fast to reform world farm trade to cut the massive subsidies that rich states pay their farmers and which developing countries say stop them competing.

The European Union's main trade negotiator, Pascal Lamy, and other top officials were adamant that the search for a deal, which could give a multibillion boost to a sluggish world economy, would continue back at WTO headquarters in Geneva.

And the new alliance of developing nations was equally firm that its newfound voice would continue to be heard loud and clear.

"It was not possible to get a concrete result. ... But we think that we have achieved some important things. Firstly, the respect for our group," said Brazil's foreign minister, Celso Amorim.

The so-called G21 grouping, which represents more than half the world's population and some two-thirds of its farmers, is united by a common commitment to getting the West to unwind subsidies running at nearly $1 billion a day.

It countered the traditionally huge weight the United States and the European Union wield within the WTO by combining a hard line towards the rich states with calls for more understanding of the problems of the world's poor farmers.

Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile, whose country shares many of the group's criticisms of the EU and the United States, said the emergence of the G21 marked "a significant shift in the dynamic" of the WTO.

Some Western envoys had expressed scepticism that the G21 would survive long because countries such as Brazil and Argentina, efficient farm goods exporters, appeared to have little in common with India, a protectionist nation of 650 million poor farmers.

By the end of the Cancun meeting, Nigeria and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim state, had joined the initial 21 countries in the group.

In the end, the G21's newfound influence was not put to the test because the talks fell apart before final bargaining on agriculture could begin.

African countries rejected a rich state demand to launch negotiations on new rules to cut out red tape and corruption in trade, ruling out the possibility of deals elsewhere.

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