African drummer (AD) blogger works with the WTO to Revive Stakes in Doha Trade Round
Franklin was a speaker at an Evian Group (based at IMD, Switzerland) session at the WTO publicforum last quarter of 2006. on "Trade and Development post-non Doha: let's getreal”. His reports below..
Franklin was a speaker at an Evian Group (based at IMD, Switzerland) session at the WTO publicforum last quarter of 2006. on "Trade and Development post-non Doha: let's getreal”. His reports below..
"The WTO forum went very well. Benign attacks on mercantilism by PascalLamy, Ted Turner, Unilever Chairman Antony Burgens and the Prime Ministerof Lesotho in their opening remarks set the tone for what could likely bethe rebirth of negotiations to complete the Doha Round or DohaDevelopment Agenda as others call it. Prime Minister Lesotho of course wanted more aid to enhance trade(lamenting his country was sidestepped in the World Bank’s HeavilyIndebted Poor Country Initiative HIPC as if the initiative is innovativein fighting poverty) though he highlighted the importance of loweringregional barriers within Africa. In Evian's forum, AD Blogger, Franklin, spoke on the hypocrisy of world traderules but of course narrowed in to what obtains within Africa with tonnes of examples on – AD blogger attacked the concept of Aid 4 Trade,describing it as some form of appeasement for erecting tariffs againstdeveloping country products. Sadly, UNCTAD appears to be making Aid 4 Trade its baby now. (A week earlier in Ghana he challenged UNCTAD's Ghana representative who in a Third World Network's organized Press Conference, wanted aid doubled for Africa because it was as of right and on the much trumpeted but wrongly applied Marshall Plan). The Marshall Plan was for reconstruction and not development. Besides the Marshall Plan’s money intoday’s value is US$120bn a substantial shortfall from the equivalence ofUS$800bn sub-Saharan Africa has received. "
You can listen to the entire session 2006 WTO public forum here
1 comment:
Trade is such a vital issue for africa to get out of its doldrums. African leaders should be pushed by their own citizens to encourage barrier-free internal trade by facilitating free movement of goods and people. Reducing the many customs check points and punishing border offcicials who engage in inhuman bodily checks and extrotion would be a good first step. A second step would be uniformity of regional taxes to help struggling businesses at least predict outcomes of their activities.
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