Doha 11 November. Capacity building of consumers in the rich countries is essential to enable development of pragmatic standards, which will enable improved market access for producers in poor countries.
This was one of the key recommendations which emerged at a panel discussion on "Standards and Market Access" organized by the CUTS Centre for International Trade, Economics & Environment (CUTS-CITEE), India and Zambia; the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Pakistan and the South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics & Environment (SAWTEE) on the sidelines of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the WTO.
Standards are a tool to gain or block market access in the present international trading system but unfortunately their sole use seems to block the exports from developing and the least developed countries to the rich world, was the common refrain from the delegates at the meeting.
The meeting was attended by trade officials and representatives of different NGOs from Uganda, Zambia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Egypt, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, USA, Austria and United Kingdom. Representatives of Consumers International, Oxfam International and IFOAM were also participating.
"Market access is a vast issue and in fact the whole of the WTO is about better market access, but the rules, such as Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures (SPS) and Technical Trade Barriers (TBT) prevent an easy entry are creating problems for the poor countries", said Mr. Pradeep S Mehta of CUTS said in his opening remarks. "These rules need to be interpreted in a fair and equitable manner otherwise the benefits of trade liberalization will not accrue to the poor countries, thus creating a further backlash against the multilateral trading system."
Furthermore, certification, testing, and accreditation are major trade barriers for the Southern exporters and the way developed countries are trying to induce their standards on developing nations is a great threat to the traditional knowledge, indigenous practices and local customs of the developing world.
"We ought to leave it on the discretion of the consumers in developed world what they want to consume and should not frighten them with the false alarms and false sense of insecurity", said Alexander Daniel of IFOAM.
The meeting also noted that the whole issue of Standards is in fact being misused to play the dirty game of power politics and the powerful ones are exploiting the powerless nations of the South. Konrad von Moltke, adviser to the WTO DG, said that he was surprised to see how negotiators are arguing at the meeting without having any clear goals of their negotiations. "Coming from the environment background, I find a huge difference between trade negotiations and environmental negotiations, which have a clear purpose. Here, people are speaking with each other, without one understanding the other", said Moltke. "This reflects even in the issue of standards and trade".
It is simply not possible to have same sort of standards or a universally accepted standard as ONE SIZE CAN'T FIT ALL. "The developing world should have autonomy to decide whether their products are safe for consumption and the whole business of certification should be made much simpler and easier", said Henry Kimera, a Ugandan delegate.
"It was wrong to state that the dispute around standards is only between the rich and poor. For example one of the biggest disputes--on the beef hormone case--is between the US and EU", said Julian Edward, Director General of Consumers International. "The dispute has its origin in the EU invoking the precautionary principle provision in the SPS agreement, an issue which needs further study and development. This should not become another trade barrier for the South."
"Developed nations should look at the 'end product' and not on the processing method if they are really sincere in implementing some standards. They ought to understand the cultural and customary differences between themselves and the developing world", said Dr Abid Suleri of SDPI in summarizing the lively discussions. "Standards should not become an end but a means to achieve sustainable development".
Instead of doing capacity building in the South, they should educate and do the capacity building of their own consumers (who are more sensible than the trade giants) that everything in South is not "unhygienic" and "harmful". This would lead to an equitable development as well as to the broader goal of integrating the developing countries under the globalization era.
In proposing the vote of thanks, Dr Ramesh Arya of SAWTEE stated that their network is engaged in a two pronged programme: building capacity of testing and other institutions in South Asia, so that producers can cope with standards set in the north, and engaging in political discussions of this nature so that process of standards-setting is more fair, transparent and equitable.
For further information please contact:
1. Pradeep S Mehta, CUTS on cellphone: (974) 539 5487, email: psm_cuts@rediffmail.com
2. Abid Suleri, SDPI on (974) 436 3520, email: abidsuleri@hotmail.com
3. Ramesh Arya, SAWTEE on (974) 435 3999, rcarya100@hotmail.com:
