Christian Aid Warns of Walk Out at WTO Conference

Christian Aid has urged poor countries Monday to prepare for a walk out of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks taking place in Hong this week if the European Union fails to make dramatic changes to its liberalising trade policies.

|TOP|Christian Aid reported receiving leaked copies of five of the EU’s confidential-request documents which exposed a continuing push for developing nations to privatise basic services such as water, healthcare and banking.

The Christian humanitarian agency said it was unlikely poor countries would gain anything from the forthcoming talks, which start Tuesday, following the failure of the EU to make significant cuts in agricultural subsidies.

Christian Aid said warned it would urge poor countries to walk out rather than sign up to a damaging agreement if changes were not made.

A poll by Christian Aid found that two-thirds of African delegations questioned said that their economies would suffer if they accept the current deal, with ninety per cent rejecting the EU’s claim that this is a pro-poor round of development talks.

|QUOTE|Christian Aid also said the unique survey reflects a renewed determination by smaller African countries to resist pressure from the EU and US to sign up to an agreement deemed not to be in their interests.

More than half of the respondents to the poll also said they would be prepared to halt negotiations if they didn’t like what was on offer, a poignant reminder of the failed WTO summit in Cancun two years ago which collapsed after poor country delegates walked out.

‘We will wait until the last minute until we finally call on developing countries to walk away from the WTO talks because we want to give the EU every opportunity to match its rhetoric and make an offer that is good for development," said Claire Melamed, Christian Aid’s head of trade policy.

"But the last minute is fast approaching and the EU has to make a dramatic u-turn in the last 48 hours before the ministerial starts. The chances of that happening are very small," she continued.

|AD|‘It is clear from the documents we have seen and from the poll of African WTO delegates that the EU in particular is proving a massive obstacle to progress.

"It is insisting on cajoling the poorest countries to open up a huge range of services so that big European companies can benefit, while refusing to make any significant moves on cutting its agricultural subsidies.

"What the EU is offering is a charter of self interest that puts the greed of the rich above the needs of the poor. Trade can and should work for poor people, but not like this," said Ms. Melamed.

Some African delegates already appear disillusioned before the talks have even begun, with Claire Akamanzi, the Rwandan delegate and Chair of the African Group on Services, saying that there was very little on offer and that it was ‘unacceptable’ to African nations.

“Not much has been offered on agriculture and the EU is aggressively pursuing its own agenda on services which are not appropriate for Africa. As we are not expecting the EU to change its stance on agriculture or to pull back from its demands on services, there is unlikely to be a proper agreement reached at Hong Kong,” she said.