Rice NGO Rejects WTO Proposals by US, Canada, Others

Rice Watch and Action Network (R1) urges the government negotiators in the World Trade Organization (WTO) to reject the proposals in the negotiations for higher protection of developing countries like the Philippines against free market access and trade of agricultural products.

R1, a coalition of non-government organizations monitoring the ongoing negotiations in the WTO said the proposed modalities on Special Products (SP) and Special Safeguard Measures (SSM) as proposed by the Committee on Agriculture Chair Crawford Falconer in February 2008 are unacceptable and the proposals put forward by the US, Australia Canada, Costa Rica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Paraguay, Thailand, United States and Uruguay are even worse.

“The proposals grossly undermine the Doha Development Round and will definitely stall the negotiations in the WTO as these are the complete opposite of the minimum demands of the G33,” said Jessica Reyes-Cantos, R1 lead convenor.

The Philippines and Indonesia are the prime movers behind the G33, the group of developing countries pushing for certain agricultural products under SPs that should not be subjected to massive tariff reduction. The SSM allows developing countries to shield local agricultural products from unfair competition against increased volume of importation and lower prices of imports.

“We urge our government and the other members of the G33 to hold their fort and stay united as the US, Canada and Australia are trying to divide the ranks of developing countries as they have successfully convinced Malaysia, Thailand and other nations to support their anti-development objectives,” said Cantos.

R1 and the other civil society organizations (CSOs) in G33 countries submitted this position paper to the G33 Ministers and to the country trade missions in Geneva, home of the WTO to register their opposition against these proposals. R1 is the lead convenor of the G33 CSOs composed of farmers and NGOs from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Malaysia, Korea, Brazil and other countries in Latin America and African nations.