7 July 2005
Contents:
- What is the WTO up to now? An AFTINET public forum in
Sydney on 6pm Thursday 28 July
- AFTINET appears before Senate Inquiry on Australia’s
relations with China
- China FTA resolution passed at ALP State Conference
- North and South countries differ on assessment of WTO
services talks, and on the need or otherwise for a new negotiating approach
- Preparations for WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong –
Details for NGO and media registration
- Reminder: AFTINET has moved to a new office
1. What is the WTO up to now? An AFTINET public forum in Sydney on 6pm
Thursday 28 July
You are invited to a forum to discuss the issues at stake in the current round of WTO
negotiations and the impact of these negotiations on people and the environment. This
forum will coincide with the meeting of the WTO General Council in Geneva.
When: 6:00pm – 7:30pm, Thursday 28 July
Where: Meeting Room, Level 10, PSA House, 160 Clarence Street Sydney
Speakers:
Tim Anderson, Lecturer in Political Economy, Sydney University
Patricia Ranald, Principal Policy Officer, Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Alister Kentish, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union
The next WTO Ministerial Meeting will be held in Hong Kong in December 2005. There is
intense pressure on developing countries to concede to the latest demands from developed
countries. In the tradition of the WTO Ministerial Meetings in Seattle and Cancun,
developing countries and community groups are joining together to oppose negotiations that
prioritise corporate interests over people and the environment.
This forum will look at the "progress" of the current Doha round of
negotiations. The current negotiations on agriculture market access threaten food security
in the developing world. The negotiations on trade in services (GATS) may convert
essential services, such as water, health and education, into tradeable goods. And
negotiations on trade in goods are feeding into a global ‘race to the bottom’ on
workers’ rights and the environment.
Please join us to bring these closed-door negotiations out into public debate.
To RSVP, contact Jemma Bailey on jbailey@piac.asn.au
or 8898 6540.
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2. AFTINET appears before Senate Inquiry on Australia’s
relationship with China
AFTINET appeared before the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee on
Wednesday 29 June to present evidence to the Inquiry on Australia’s relationship with
China. Our submission focused on the China Free Trade Agreement and its impact on human
rights, workers rights and the environment in both Australia and China. Our submission
also raised concerns about the transparency of community consultations and the absence of
a full public and parliamentary debate before the Government formally announced the start
of negotiations on 18 April.
AFTINET’s submission is available from our website, www.aftinet.org.au. The Senate Inquiry is due to
report on 15 September 2005.
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3. China FTA resolution passed at ALP State Conference
A resolution on the China Free Trade Agreement was passed at the recent NSW ALP State
Conference. The resolution was moved by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.
In summary, the resolution stated that the following preconditions must be met before
the ALP would consider supporting an FTA:
- China must implement the conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and
operation of free and effective trade unions must be supported by the Chinese government
- China must concede to a proper mechanism for monitoring, reporting and enforcement of
core labour standards
- Health and safety standards in China must be improved to ensure that workplace deaths
and injury are minimised and standards are lifted to comparable international levels
- A transparent process to identify and rectify non-tariff barriers within China at both
the national and provincial level must be developed
- Robust and effective processes to ensure legal rights are enforceable including property
rights
- Processes are implemented to ensure that China ceases to use a lack of environmental
standards and safeguards as a competitive advantage
- Australia must implement strong anti-dumping laws to protect Australian industries from
government monopolies and company profits that are underpinned by gross exploitation of
workers
- Independent social audits of Australia and other regions affected by the proposed FTAs
with China must be undertaken and acted upon
- Industry development policies designed to promote increased Australian manufacturing
jobs through research and development and increased investment in cutting edge technology
must be implemented
- Any agreement must be subject to effective public consultation and a thorough
Parliamentary process
- Recognition and continuation of existing industry plans in the vehicle and textiles,
clothing and footware industries
A similar resolution was passed at the ALP State Conference in Queensland.
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4. North and South countries differ on assessment of WTO services
talks, and on the need or otherwise for a new negotiating approach
5 July 2005, Martin Khor, Third World Network
A week of services negotiations took place at the WTO in the week 27 June to 1 July.
On the final two days (Thursday and Friday) there was a discussion at plenary level
on "Review of progress and organisation of future work." At the debate on that
agenda item, some major developed and developing countries gave
significantly different assessments of the state of the services negotiations.
Major developed countries have been projecting a sense of crisis over what they
consider to be unsatisfactory market access offers by developing countries. In light
of this, the European Union is asking that new negotiating approaches ("alternative
complementary methods") be adopted by the General Council meeting in July.
This was taken by other members as a code for what was widely called
"benchmarking", which again is a code term for asking countries to commit
themselves to liberalization in a list of sectors of major economic value. On the other
hand, many developing countries were of the view that there is no crisis, and that the
talks in services are not lagging behind talks in agriculture or NAMA (non agricultural
market access).
In the market access offers, say the developing countries, the problem is not the lack
of offers by developing countries but rather the lack of offers by the developed counties
in Mode 4, or the opening of their labour markets to workers from developing countries.
Many developing countries also rejected the EU proposal to adopt new negotiating
modalities, as the existing methods are adequate, while the new proposed approach may
compromise the flexibilities that the developing countries now have in the GATS over the
sectors and pace for liberalization.
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5. Preparations for WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong – Details for NGO
and media registration
As mentioned in previous AFTINET bulletins, the next WTO Ministerial will be held in
Hong Kong from 13 – 18 December 2005. In the tradition of previous Ministerial
meetings, there will be a large contingent of NGO’s and activists from around the
world in Hong Kong to bring the WTO negotiations out from behind closed doors. Many voices
will join together in Hong Kong to lobby negotiators at the meeting, to oppose the
globalisation of the corporate agenda and to demonstrate that another world is possible.
The Hong Kong People’s Alliance on the WTO (HKPA) was formed on 22 September 2004
to organise for the WTO Ministerial in December. There is a People’s Action Week, a
number of conferences and cultural events planned for the Ministerial. For more details
and to keep updated, please visit the HKPA’s website: http://www.hkpa-wto.org/.
If you or your organisation is considering going to the Ministerial in December, please
note the following:
- NGO accreditation: The accreditation of NGOs wishing to attend the Ministerial is open
until 29 July. To apply for NGO accreditation, please visit
https://meetings.wto.org/NGO/PreRegistration/ngohome.aspx?Language=E
- Media accreditation: The accreditation of media wishing to attend the Ministerial occurs
from 1 July – 15 November. To apply for media accreditation, please visit the WTO
website: www.wto.org. There are quite strict criteria
for who can qualify as ‘bona fide’ media. These criteria are at http://www.wto.org/engllish/forums_e/media_e/criteria_accreditation_min_e.htm
