23 March 2005

Contents:

1. AFTINET Avant Card on WTO trade in services and the right to water
2. Senate Inquiry on Australia’s relations with China - please make a submission!
3. Report of Hong Kong planning meeting for the 2005 WTO Ministerial Meeting and meetings with Hong Kong organisations about the China FTA
4. Report on AFTINET lobbying trip to Canberra
5. WTO status hurts China’s rural poor: World Bank
6. Australia eyes free-trade deal with UAE as ‘launchpad’ for access to Middle East

1. AFTINET Avant Card on WTO trade in services and the right to water

AFTINET has produced a postcard for the Global Week of Action (10 – 16 April) on the right to water and the WTO’s trade in services agreement (GATS). The postcard highlights the threat in developing countries and in Australia of listing water in the GATS.

The postcard is addressed to Trade Minister Mark Vaile, care of AFTINET, and calls on the Trade Minister not to include water services or any other essential services in Australia’s offers in the GATS negotiations and not to make requests about essential services to developing countries. We will collect signed cards and present them to Mark Vaile later in the year.

The postcard will be distributed nationally in coffee shops, theatres and other venues from 1 April. We will send a postcard to all AFTINET members. If you want to order copies of the postcard to distribute amongst your networks, please contact Jemma Bailey on (02) 9299 7833 or at jbailey@piac.asn.au.

Please sign a card and send it back to us by 30 May, or fill in the postcard online. Please tell your friends and encourage them to do so too. Join with people around the world to tell governments to keep water and other essential services OUT of trade agreements. Water is a human right, not a traded good.

Thanks to Avant Card, the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, the Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes NSW and the Sisters of Charity for their generous support.

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As mentioned in previous AFTINET bulletins, a Senate Inquiry has been announced into Australia’s relationship with China. The terms of reference broadly cover Australia’s economic and political relationship with China and also specifically refer to the proposed China FTA.

Please consider making a submission to this Inquiry. This is an important opportunity to raise public concerns and encourage community debate on the China FTA. Submissions to the Senate Inquiry were originally due on 24 March and an extension on this date has been granted until 31 March. The terms of reference are available at http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/fadt_ctte/china/tor.htm.

The draft AFTINET submission is enclosed. You are welcome to use this as a basis for your own submission. If you would like to make comments or suggestions for the AFTINET submission or if you would like an electronic copy, please contact Jemma Bailey on 9299 7833 or at jbailey@piac.asn.au.

Submissions can be lodged electronically to fadt.sen@aph.gov.au or by post to:

Committee Secretary
Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee
Department of the Senate
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

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3. Report of Hong Kong planning meeting for the 2005 WTO Ministerial Meeting and meetings with Hong Kong organisations about the China FTA

By Pat Ranald, Convenor of AFTINET

I represented PIAC and AFTINET at the conference organised by the Hong Kong Peoples’ Alliance on the WTO on February 26-27th. The aim of the conference was to plan for the WTO Ministerial Meeting to be held in Hong Kong, December 13-18th, 2005. There were 250 participants from 110 organizations from 23 countries; 170 from overseas and 80 people from Hong Kong. The organisations included labor unions, migrant communities, small farmers, environment groups, church, women, students and human rights groups. Major international networks represented included the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, Focus on the Global South , Friends of the Earth International, Migrant Forum in Asia, Via Campesina and Our World Is Not For Sale.

The Hong Kong People’s Alliance on WTO (HKPA) is a local network of trade unions, community labour groups and organisations of migrant workers, students, women, church, human rights and researchers. The alliance aims to conduct critical community education about the social impacts of corporate globalisation through liberalisation of trade and investment, and link these to local debates on issues like the privatisation of public services. It also aims to lobby the Hong Kong government to engage civil society in its negotiations within the WTO by providing consultations about the Ministerial Meeting. The Hong Kong organsiations emphasised the importance of international participation in providing support for their efforts to expand the democratic space for civil society in Hong Kong.

The conference heard reports on the latest developments in the WTO negotiations, and held workshops to plan activities by civil society organizations during the Ministerial Meeting. These will include conferences and other community education activities, lobbying of government delegations, cultural activities and public rallies.

Representatives from the conference also met with the Hong Kong Government, including the police, to discuss ongoing liaison arrangements for the Ministerial Meeting. There was also a media conference that was attended by and reported by a wide range of local print, radio and television media. This was important as previous media publicity had focused only on demonstrations.

The Hong Kong Peoples’ Alliance will be welcoming organisations from other countries including Australia to join the civil society presence at the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting. AFTINET will circulate further information as it becomes available.

I also met separately in Hong Kong with local organisations to discuss the Australia-China Free Trade Agreement. These included the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, the China Labour Support Network, Greenpeace Hong Kong, the Asia Monitor Resource Centre and Globalisaton Monitor. I also met with some academic researchers.

Many of these organisations work with communities on the mainland, in areas like occupational health and safety training, women's rights and the environment. They are all concerned about the impact of rapid trade liberalisation on communities in China, especially in the export processing zones where local factories bid for contracts from transnational investors at the expense of workers' rights.

There is no community consultation in China about trade agreements, although they are aware from media reports that the Chinese government is negotiatiing some 13 different bilateral agreements. They were very glad to establish contact and want to keep in touch. We discussed the possibility of some people from China travelling to Australia to discuss the impacts of free trade on communities in Australia and China. This could be part of the campaign during the negotiations if we can get funding for it. This would be valuable for our campaign, as it would emphasise solidarity and counter possible racism against China in the debate. New Zealand is also negotiationg with China . We may be able to do a combined tour, as we are in contact with NZ fair trade groups.

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4. Report on AFTINET lobbying trip to Canberra

By Jemma Bailey

On 10 and 11 March, Pat Ranald and I visited Canberra for a lobbying trip to meet with politicians, representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and AFTINET members in the ACT.

On Thursday 10 March, we met with a number of politicians at Parliament House to discuss the China FTA and WTO’s trade in services agreement (GATS). We met with Simon Crean, the Shadow Minister for Trade. We presented our concerns on the China FTA to Mr Crean, including the Government’s failure to release the Feasibility Study and lack of community consultation, the lack of workers’ rights in China and the potential impact of the China FTA communities in Australia. We also met with other ALP and minor opposition party MPs, including members of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee, which is conducting the Senate Inquiry on Australia’s relations with China.

On Friday 11 March, we spent the morning at DFAT. We were joined by members of the AFTINET Working Group, including a representative from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Over 3 hours, we met with a number of DFAT representatives and were given briefings on:

• the proposed China Free Trade Agreement
• the proposed Australia – ASEAN – New Zealand Free Trade Agreement
• the proposed Malaysian Free Trade Agreement
• the proposed Free Trade Agreement with the United Arab Emirates
• the WTO’s trade in services agreement (GATS); and
• the progress of the Doha Round, in the lead-up to the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial and beyond.

On the afternoon of Friday 11 March, we met with ANU academics, who are working on a project to monitor the impact of the US Free Trade Agreement on the price of medicines and medicines policy in Australia. It will be important to monitor any increases in prices and the impact of the USFTA on low-income families and to ensure that this information is made available for community debate. We will keep in contact with these academics and forward information as their project progresses.

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5. WTO status hurts China’s rural poor: World Bank

GLOBEANDMAIL.COM, 22 February 2005

China's rural poor have suffered a "sharp 6-per-cent drop" in living standards since Beijing's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, according to a World Bank report released yesterday. The study consequently urged Chinese authorities to take steps to correct what it said has been an uneven distribution of benefits from WTO membership between rural and urban areas.

It found that market-opening measures and other economic reforms that came with WTO accession have been worth more than $40-billion (U.S.) a year to the Chinese economy and have added about $75-billion a year to real incomes worldwide. "While China has experienced remarkable growth in its trade as a result of its WTO accession, it now faces the challenge of adjusting labour policies to improve productivity in the rural sector and to allow workers to move to more competitive sectors," said Will Martin, an editor of the study.

Its findings were based on a survey of 84,000 Chinese households. While nearly 90 per cent of urban households reported income and consumption gains, rural households overall sustained an average income loss of 0.7 per cent. "The poorest rural households . . . suffered a sharp 6-per-cent drop in their living standards, as measured by consumption, due to the combined effect of a drop in real wages and an increase in the prices of consumer goods," the World Bank said in a statement.

The report called for reforms to the system governing the movement of people from rural to urban regions. It said proposed reforms could boost rural wages 17 per cent and allow about 28 million people to leave the agricultural sector.

The study also urged increased education and stepped-up delivery of agricultural technology to help farmers increase productivity.

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6. Australia eyes free-trade deal with UAE as ‘launchpad’ for access to Middle East

Daily Star, Beirut, 17 March 2005

Australia and the United Arab Emirates agreed Tuesday to begin negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) that Canberra said would be a "launchpad" for expanded business opportunities across the Middle East. Trade Minister Mark Vaile announced the decision alongside his U.A.E counterpart, Sheikha Lubna Khalid al-Qassimi, following two days of talks and officials said the goal was to complete a deal by next year.

"Australian exporters can expect big gains and opportunities from a prospective free- trade agreement with the Emirates," he said. "The Emirates is a regional financial and transportation hub, the Singapore of the Middle East if you like, and a launchpad into the Gulf and Middle East markets." The ministers said they had agreed to work toward securing a substantial, comprehensive FTA covering goods, services and investment.

The move marks the first attempt by Australia to reach a free trade accord with a Middle East nation. The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard has recently signed FTAs with the United States, Thailand and Singapore and is currently negotiating alongside New Zealand on an FTA with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Howard is also expected to announce the launch of free trade talks with China during a trip to Beijing next month and plans are under way to enter negotiations with Malaysia.

The oil-rich U.A.E is Australia’s second largest trading partner in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, with two-way trade in 2004 totalling some $2.9 billion. The U.A.E imports large quantities of Australian motor vehicles, agricultural commodities and metals while Australian purchases from the U.A.E are dominated by petroleum and, to a growing extent, liquefied natural gas.

"Our economies are broadly complementary and both countries will benefit from a reduction in barriers under an FTA," Vaile said. Qassimi also said the free-trade agreement could lead to broader business opportunities for Australia in her region. "We think this particular FTA would probably help in getting a pan-Gulf area of trade agreement," she told reporters.

As the U.A.E is already a low-tariff nation, most of the focus is expected to be on the services sector. Sheikha Lubna said that since the U.A.E already had low tariffs on imported merchandise, it was looking to extend links into Australia, including in financial services, universities and petro-chemicals. "Instead of focusing on sectors of commodities, we are actually working through the services. And the interesting thing about the services you can always create more as you go along," she said.

In ministerial talks alongside Tuesday’s meeting on trade, U.A.E Transportation Minister Sultan Bin Saeed al-Mansouri sought to increase access to the Australian market for Dubai-based carrier Emirates Airlines. Emirates already has access to Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, but wants better access, particularly into the growing tourist destination of Brisbane. "There is a continuous demand for the number of flights that is needed for the different destinations in Australia and beyond," he said.