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FRI, NOV 09, 2001
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The ministers from the 142-member World Trade Organization are ready to start their five-day meeting in Doha. They've come together to start a new round of global trade negotiations, something they failed to do two years ago when they met in the US city of Seattle. The up-coming Doha meeting is considered crucial to the future of an open trading system.
It took place two years ago, but remains a blot on the WTO landscape. Against the backdrop of violent protests against globalization, the Seattle meeting became a fiasco. But not all analysts see it that way.
Mao Yushi from Unirule Institute of Economics,said:"WTO rules are never perfect. They are gradually improved through different kinds of participation, different voices from different classes of people and different nations."
But if street protesters were the only reason for Seattle's breakdown, WTO officials would not have been as worried as they were.
Mike Moore, WTO Director General,said:"I would accept a lot of criticism about WTO and how we can improve what we do. But there is one criticism that I would not accept, and that is this house, in some way, is not democratic."
But poorer members of the world trading bloc say there is a lack of democracy within the group. They argue that WTO rules are tailored to the interests of richer nations, even though most of its members are relatively poor.
Some industrial nations also want to link labor standards to trade rules - an idea developing countries veto. They say it puts up unfair barriers to their exports, which are usually produced with much cheaper labor.
Another thorny issue is investment. The United States, Japan and the European Union are pushing for free capital access to developing countries. They are asking for the ceiling on foreign shares in joint ventures to be lifted. The United States is also asking the Doha meeting to discuss anti-dumping rules.
Developing countries are finding these conditions hard to accept.
Wang Lei, Stanbrook Hooper Int'l Law Firm,said:"I don't think developing countries do not need this new round. But it's a reality in the global trading system, in which developed countries often take innitiatives in pushing forward the new round."
The last round of world trade talks, known as the Uruguay Round, ended seven years ago. Since then, WTO members have not come up with any new plans to free up trade. The success of the Doha meeting now depends on whether WTO members can trade off their different interests and meet each other half-way.
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