Press review - 724 - Revue de presse : 12/05/2005
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AFRICA
COMESA summit to adopt new roadmap to customs union
Source: CHINA NEWS
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-12 20:30:58 COMESA summit to adopt new roadmap to customs union
LUSAKA, May 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The coming summit of heads of state for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in Kigali, Rwanda, will discuss and adopt a new roadmap for the establishment of a customs union in the region.
COMESA spokesman Mweusi Karake said Thursday "the theme of the summit is enhancing integration through customs union. The customsunion roadmap will form a major part of the discussion."
The summit has been slated for June 2-3, and will be preceded by the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the meeting of the foreign affairs ministers, the second COMESA business summit and meetings of policy organs.
COMESA is a major regional economic grouping in Africa with 19 member countries and a combined population of 350 million.
The regional bloc had planned to launch a customs union on its 10th anniversary last December, but it failed to take off due to fear of its adverse impact on some member countries. It was suggested that COMESA should consolidate on the Free Trade Area before embarking on the next stage of integration.
The COMESA Free Trade Area was launched in 2000. Eleven countries have so far joined the initiative and conduct their trade on duty and quota-free basis.
Karake said the summit scheduled for June 2-3 will discuss the progress made by countries that have not joined the Free Trade Area.
They will also discuss pending applications by countries that aspire to join COMESA, he said.
Karake declined to the name the applicants, but informed sources said Libya has indicated interest to join COMESA, while Tanzania, which withdrew some years ago, may come back.
Xinhua reliably learned that in addition to all the COMESA member countries, leaders of Libya and Tanzania have also been invited to the summit.
Other items on the agenda of the summit including the swearing in of new judges for the COMESA court of justice and the newly created court of appeal, as well as the second COMESA first lady round table. Enditem
FIJI / PACIFIC
Crucial time for Fiji, Pacific
Source: FIJI TIMES
(Monday, May 09, 2005) Crucial time for Fiji, Pacific
ROBERTO Ridolfi has been all over the world, most recently based in Brussels, Belgium, working in the area of expansion of the European Union.
He has been through Kosovo, parts of Africa and the United States. About a month ago, he became the head of the Delegation of the European Commission in the Pacific. With May 9 celebrated as Europe Day, he speaks to SOPHIE FOSTER of the challenges ahead.
TIMES: Welcome to Fiji. Your role as head of the European Commission's Delegation to the Pacific is an important one and comes at a crucial time. What was your first impression when told that you would be coming here?
RIDOLFI: Bula vinaka. I hope this is correct. My first impression on being asked to come to Fiji? It was: I want to go today! Yes, indeed, this post is important for the Pacific as, from the Fiji delegation we cover and are responsible not only for 11 Pacific ACP states and four overseas countries and territories, but for the Pacific's regional co-operation program. And I must say that after four weeks in Fiji I have found not just beauty but, especially, a very interesting, friendly and motivating people, which I'm sure is typical of the region.
The time at which I arrive is crucial for the Pacific, with so many things starting and going on the EPA negotiations, the Pacific Plan, next year's general election in Fiji, the changing situation in the sugar industry, and much else ... It's a really challenging time.
TIMES: You have arrived in the Pacific at a critical time in the history of the relationship between Europe and countries here. What do you believe will be your biggest challenge?
RIDOLFI: The first challenge is to know each other, to understand each other and learn from each other. May 9, we celebrate Europe Day: The biggest challenge for me is to assist the governments and peoples of the Pacific to enter into and to continue a full all-round dialogue that has the foundation on development co-operation but that shall expand, in co-ordination with the European member states in the region, into a 360-degree dialogue touching on global issues commercial, environmental and political.
The biggest challenge is represented by reaching a dramatic increase in awareness of the values of the Union: 25 countries and almost as many languages, cultures, traditions: 450 million people who have decided to share something together to grow and prosper in peace. When it comes to soccer matches we are not that friendly to one another, I can tell you!
TIMES: The World Trade Organisation is increasingly being seen as a threat to job security in the region. Do you share this impression?
RIDOLFI: I'm not so sure this impression is shared by so many, and it certainly isn't shared by me. There is a lot of evidence that freeing trade generates more trade, and that trade drives the economy. Looking at the lessons of history we must acknowledge that free trade has delivered wealth to producer nations and consumer nations alike. Of course, it must be understood that a number of conditions must be in place in the elasticity of the macroeconomic environment, in the governance and in the socio-economic interactions inside the nation to react in order to ensure the benefits that must derive from a fully endorsed and profitable WTO membership. And the changes must be introduced carefully, with all the proper safety nets, where these are needed. Job security looks at the sustainability of the job, which is, by definition, a long-term perspective: Trade protectionism has never delivered in this respect. The core issue remains the freedom of choice of consumers. If people prefer to drink Fiji Water in Hollywood, they should be allowed to do so. If they prefer to drive Japanese cars or dare I say it drink Italian wines in Fiji, the market should allow it.
TIMES: The recent WTO decision on European subsidies to farmers is one that will have an impact on our own trading relations with Europe under the Sugar Protocol. What sort of impact will the WTO decision have on the protocol as a result of this decision?
RIDOLFI: The WTO challenge was not to Sugar Protocol prices as such, it was to the level of sugar being exported by the European Union with subsidies. But the WTO decision will have the effect of speeding up and confirming the need for the EU's own internal sugar market reform, because the EU will be forced to reduce its own sugar beet production levels. It is the EU reform, especially, that will affect Fiji, because as you know the proposal on the table, which has yet to be agreed, I would add, is for a price cut of some 35 per cent. And, of course, the protocol price is linked to the EU internal price.
TIMES: The European Commission has continued to support the development of many crucial industries in ACP countries, in our case sugar. What is the possible scenario for our interaction with the European Commission on sugar over the next few years?
RIDOLFI: In fact I've just been having discussions, last week and this morning, with some of the more important stakeholders in the sugar industry here. We are planning to provide funds grant money to support Fiji in its period of adaptation to the new market conditions. First a consensus will need to be reached on the way this money will best be spent the funds will come on stream in 2006, and should continue for six or seven years. Government will need to consult, and to come to an agreed strategy. The money will be sugar-related, but not necessarily sugar-targeted. What I mean is that if this is thought the best, part could go into the industry, and part into developing other viable export product markets, for example. We have no preconceived ideas, at present. It has to be Fiji's judgment and Fiji's decision.
TIMES: Do you see a time when the price ACP sugar fetches on European market will be the same as world market price, and if so, how long will that take?
RUDOLFI: Fiji still has a good chance to export certain quantities to Europe at preferential prices. This could be achieved, for example, if sugar is built into a Pacific-EU Economic Partnership Agreement. Under EPAs if they can be negotiated ACP states will pay zero duty while other non-ACP producers will pay the much higher Most Favoured Nation duty. But whatever the future scenario, increasing competitiveness for Fiji is vital.
TIMES: What are the key areas that the European Commission is targeting for interaction with Fiji over the next few years?
RIDOLFI :Our biggest area of concentration over the next five years or so will be in education. But, as you know, we have some very major projects going on in the environmental area - I'm thinking of the Kinoya Outfall, for example, and Naboro. And the Rewa Bridge that is one of our major ongoing projects, and everybody who has to drive to and from Nausori will be very, very happy, I'm sure, when that is completed. We are a major donor here and we want to complete essential infrastructure that we are providing to Fiji. As I said, for the ninth European Development Fund the commission has agreed, with the member states of the European Union, to the wise proposal of the Fiji Government to invest in people, concentrating all EDF resources about $45million in education. This is the biggest united effort into one sector ever achieved. The comprehensive program that looks at policy advice, management improvement and substantial infrastructure upgrading is going to have a major impact as it aims to help one of the most important resources of Fiji probably its most important the people.
I am personally planning to follow the development of this program, so as to have an opportunity to engage on the values of the EU, engage on the high values of integration. We want to link and connect this program into civic education: The inclusive wonderful, integrating approach of children shall be used as a vehicle to foster civic education to parents and into communities at large.
TIMES: What would you like to see happen with our sugar industry during your term in office?
RIDOLFI: I would like to see it become more competitive. I would like to see it not simply survive but prosper and I am sure it can, but probably in a leaner and meaner form. And most especially, I would like to see the people who are coming out of the industry, or will have to come out of the industry in the nearish future I would like to see them find decent, remunerative alternative ways of making a living, of offering a future to their own children. Im here for four years: if I can see this begin to happen within four years, with EU assistance, I will be a very happy man. The team at the delegation in Suva will have achieved an essential result.
TIMES: The EU has so far taken a hands off role, in sugar for instance. Is the EU planning to take on a more hands on approach, in terms of consultations with sugar stakeholders, the Government and farmers?
RIDOLFI: I wouldnt agree that weve taken a hands-off role in sugar in the past. We have always consulted with the major stakeholders, and tried to keep them informed of how the EU market is developing. But you are right to say that well need to get more hands-on in future, now that sugar wont just be a market arrangement between us though, of course, a very beneficial arrangement. Now there will be development funds that will be channelled into supporting Fiji to adapt to lower protocol prices. Well need to be more directly involved now, because with development money we need to be able to demonstrate to our own EU taxpayers that money is well spent. We have started, and with the help of my excellent team of advisers at the delegation we will play fully our part: The doors of our offices are open we are ready to listen, to understand, to facilitate, to act.
TIMES: The Forum Secretariat and Forum nations are negotiating a Pacific Plan. Do you see a role for the EU in terms of the Pacific Plan?
RIDOLFI: It is very much in our nature to be integrators, so the answer is: Yes. The experience of the union started with the wise consideration as to how integration and stronger partnership of nations could have worked for peace and prosperity. It started with integration of the steel and coal markets, and it later on extended to a customs union, a single market, to common policies in trade, agriculture, environment, consumer protection, information technology, research, and so on. And it is still evolving. As a development partner and a global player, the union is very keen to assist support and engage fully in the Pacific Plan.
Although a first comparison of the Pacific region with the European one may look disproportionate, on closer analysis it is not so different. There are economies of scale to be made here too, transport systems could be optimised.
In the Pacific Plan, the commission is available, in co-ordination with the EU member states, to pursue higher degree of political interaction, to encourage more multilateralism, to support a framework in which Pacific Island countries like Fiji but the same is true for all the Pacific Island countries can play an important role and have their voice heard in the regional arena.
And give reciprocal support at the right time on the global scene: Environment, disaster preparedness, the multi-lateral approach to international crises.
In the Pacific Plan and well within the institutional role of all players, the EU can provide a substantial support in a number of aspects. I hope, following these lines and with the appropriate signal of dialogue from the Forum that we can work towards a substantial increase of funds for the Regional EDF program and, therefore, having an impact on the Pacific plan too. States must be aware of the risk of widening the gap between the vision of their leaders and the perception of their people: With our experience we are ready to assist on closing this gap.
TIMES: From a good governance perspective, will the EU be involved in monitoring or observing the Fiji elections in 2006?
RIDOLFI: All efforts by all parties, all friends of Fiji, donors and partners shall contribute each for its own and in the institutional framework given to assist. The question is: Have all parties planned to do everything possible within their reach and means to ensure smooth preparation, elections and smooth post-election periods? As I said before, I am keen on reinforcing civic education here as elsewhere. In one of my previous postings in Africa I introduced a National Initiative for Civic Education (a NICE program!), which worked well. Ive mentioned this possibility to people here, and people were supportive to the idea. I am hopeful and confident to receive from the Government the input and, therefore, be able to mobilise the resources necessary to build on civic education here, to ensure the maximum possible coverage. We will certainly touch base on this in the future.
TIMES: The construction of the Rewa Bridge, which is funded through the European Commission, is now at least five months behind schedule. Does this concern you?
RIDOLFI: Im not unduly concerned. The delay is, I think, about three-and-a-half-months and this is not an excessive delay on a two-year project. It had to do with rather technical reasons rain, some problems with the redesign of the western approach, steel imports ... its a big project. Some degree of delay is to be expected, but Im confident that we will finish around this time next year.
TIMES: Do you believe a special trade agreement between Europe and the Pacific to get around WTO rules on special treatment is the only way forward for the Pacific to maintain its privileges in Europe?
RIDOLFI: Its the best way we can think of We are good WTO members: We believe that a rules-based system provides certainty and predictability for trade and investment. So we need to respect WTO rules. But we have privileged co-operation relations with the ACP states, and Economic Partnership Agreements are the best way we can think of to both provide this stability and to help our co-operation partners in the most development-oriented, most favourable, way we can.
CARIBBEAN
Caribbean sugar-producing nations want Europe's help to re-tool
Source: EU BUSINESS
11/05/2005 Caribbean sugar-producing nations want Europe's help to re-tool
Caribbean sugar-producing nations want the European Union to help them re-tool and diversify the cane-sugar industry, even as preferential prices are on the verge of plummeting, a Jamaican official said Wednesday.
Roger Clarke, Jamaica's agriculture minister, told AFP the Caribbean nations are demanding that the EU fund a re-capitalization programme to help them replace antiquated sugar factories, change sugar-cane varieties and get into new products such as ethanol.
He declined to say how much the capitalization programme would cost, but he noted that the sugar industry was already saddled with the high costs of equipment, fuel and labour.
Each of the sugar-producing nations -- Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago -- are crafting individual strategies to be presented to the EU, Clarke said.
He noted, however, that he was worried the EU was taking unilateral action in making decisions concerning the future of the cane-sugar industry, which provides hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the Caribbean.
"Our concerns are founded on the fact that these unilateral decisions that are being taken by the EU run counter to long-standing agreements that we have had, and we believe that you should not unilaterally come to some of those conclusions without taking into consideration the effects on producing countries like ours," said Clarke.
Caribbean sugar producers export at least 480,000 tonnes of cane-sugar to Europe at a preferential price of 21 US cents per pound, compared with the world-market price of six cents per pound.
RWANDA
La dette du Rwanda annulée par le Club de Paris
Source: LE MONDE
11.05.05 | 09h55 • Mis à jour le 11.05.05 | 09h55 La dette du Rwanda annulée par le Club de Paris
es pays créanciers du Club de Paris ont décidé d'annuler 100 % de la dette du Rwanda, soit 100,4 millions de dollars, a annoncé le Club, mardi 11 mai.
Réunis mardi, les représentants des pays créanciers du Club de Paris "ont pris note que le Rwanda avait franchi le point d'achèvement de l'initiative renforcée sur la dette des pays pauvres très endettés (initiative PPTE renforcée) le 13 avril 2005", a indiqué l'organisme.
"Ils ont salué la détermination du Rwanda à appliquer une stratégie globale de réduction de la pauvreté et à mettre en œuvre un programme économique ambitieux favorisant une croissance économique soutenue et durable", a poursuivit l'instance.
Par conséquent, ces représentants "ont décidé d'annuler 82,7 millions de dollars en valeur nominale, ce qui représente l'effort incombant au Club de Paris tel que défini par le FMI (Fonds monétaire international) et la Banque mondiale dans le cadre de l'initiative PPTE renforcée", a informé le Club.
1,572 MILLIARD DE DETTE PUBLIQUE
De plus, "la dette du Rwanda envers les créanciers du Club de Paris sera également réduite de 7,7 millions de dollars du fait des allégements additionnels octroyés bilatéralement par les créanciers", a-t-il ajouté. "A la suite des allégements bilatéraux additionnels, la totalité de la dette du Rwanda à l'égard du Club de Paris sera annulée", a-t-il ensuite conclu.
La dette publique totale du Rwanda était estimée à 1,572 milliard de dollars en valeur faciale à la fin 2003 et à la fin mars 2005, la dette du Rwanda envers les pays membres du Club de Paris était, quant à elle, estimée à 90,4 millions de dollars en valeur faciale. Ce dernier chiffre prend en compte les prêts de l'Union européenne administrés par l'Agence internationale pour le développement.
Les pays membres du Club de Paris - instance informelle de gouvernements créanciers des pays industrialisés - ayant participé au réaménagement de la dette du Rwanda sont l'Allemagne, l'Autriche, la Belgique, le Canada, le Danemark, les Etats-Unis, la France, l'Italie, le Japon, les Pays-Bas et le Royaume-Uni. Le Rwanda était représenté par son ministre des finances, Donald Kaberuka.
"Comme dans tout accord du Club de Paris, le Rwanda s'est engagé à rechercher un traitement comparable de la part de ses créanciers non membres du Club de Paris et de ses créanciers commerciaux. La délégation du Rwanda a indiqué sa volonté de rencontrer ces créanciers dans les meilleurs délais afin de négocier les termes d'un futur traitement", a également précisé le Club de Paris.
Avec AFP
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
PM encourages more downstream processing
Source: THE NATIONAL (Papua New Guinea)
Monday, 9 May 2005
PM encourages more downstream processing
By BAEAU TAI
PRIME Minister Sir Michael Somare has encouraged all industries to seriously look at downstream processing in the country.
Sir Michael said this at the official launch of nine new tuna products by RD Tuna Canners at Holiday Inn in Port Moresby last Friday night.
Sir Michael said on the national front, it is industries such as RD Tuna Canners that strengthen PNG's balance of payments position and international reserves.
"Downstream processing ensures that more jobs are created for our people. There is more cash circulating in Madang's economy due to the number of people that are directly involved with the company.
"It also increases the revenue for government through its income and company taxes," Sir Michael said.
He told the launching ceremony, which was attended by key government ministers, business executives, departmental heads and RD executives, that RD Canners are pioneers in the fish canning industry who negotiated the export of canned tuna to Europe.
"They paved the way for the European Union to accept our canned fish under the ACP/EU arrangements.
"And here they are again with a new product for the local and export markets called Dolly," he said.
"This government supports the commitment of companies like RD Canners that are providing increased goods and services to the people of Papua New Guinea.
"RD Canners have other plans of expansion in the future and the government is encouraged by its continued investments and initiatives.
"Consistent with our export driven strategy, we are encouraging further downstream processing in all industries in particular the fishing industry.
"I want to see downstream processing in the mining industry so that we can process copper and gold. If RD Tuna can do it, why can't the mining companies?"
Sir Michael said.
"We have been able to establish in recent years other fishing industries like Southseas Tuna Corporation in Wewak and Frabelle in Lae.
"These companies together employ a further 2000 people.
RD Tuna Canners is the single largest employer in Madang province with over 3,000 direct employees."
ACP/WTO
Commercialisation du sucre : le groupe ACP mécontent du régime décidé par l'OMC
Source: LE POTENTIEL (République démocratique du Congo)
10 Mai 2005 Commercialisation du sucre : le groupe ACP mécontent du régime décidé par l'OMC
Missely
Kinshasa
Le groupe des Etats de l'Afrique, Caraïbe et Pacifique (Acp) est mécontent du régime communautaire du sucre décidé par l'organe d'appel de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (Omc), selon un communiqué de presse de ce groupe daté de Bruxelles. La décision de l' Omc, le régime adopté ne tiendrait pas compte des arguments avancés par le groupe Acp pourtant essentiels pour la survie des petites économies vulnérables.
En effet, à l'issue d'une réunion tenue à Bruxelles le 03 mai, ledit groupe a soutenu fermement qu'une décision faisant droit aux réclamations des plaignants a des conséquences graves sur les avantages commerciaux et économiques que les pays Acp tirent des exportations du sucre vers les pays de l'Union européenne dans le cadre du protocole relatif à ce produit. « Il nous semble que l'organe d'appel (ndlr de l'Omc) n'a pas pris en compte nos arguments qui étaient pourtant essentiels pour la survie de nos économies vulnérables », souligne la déclaration.
Pour le groupe Acp, le régime communautaire du sucre adopté par cet organe pourrait avoir des incidences sur l'ensemble des trois piliers qui sous-tendent l'accord relatif à l'agriculture et qu'elle a introduit un élément d'incertitude qui doit maintenant être pris en compte dans le cadre du cycle de Doha en cours. « Nous considérons que, si elles sont examinées dans le cadre de l'accord-cadre de l'Omc conclu en juillet 2004, les conclusions et recommandations de l'organe d'appel pourraient ne pas nécessiter les réductions draconiennes de prix que la Commission a proposées dans le cadre de la réforme du régime communautaire de sucre », indique le communiqué du groupe Acp tout en précisant que celui-ci (le groupe Acp) n'est pas opposé à la réforme elle-même.
Il est plutôt pour une réforme qui soit juste et équitable pour l'ensemble des parties prenantes et qui respecte totalement les engagements juridiques et politiques de l'Union européenne vis-à-vis des Etats Acp fournisseurs de cette denrée, en particulier dans le cadre du protocole Acp-Ue relatif au sucre et de l'article 36 (4) de l'accord de Cotonou.
Cependant, toujours selon la même déclaration, les Acp se félicitent néanmoins de ce que l'organe de l'Omc a décidé de ne pas statuer sur les réclamations des plaignants concernant l'accord sur les subventions et les mesures compensatoires.
« Nous souhaiterions par ailleurs rappeler la suggestion faite par le groupe spécial en ce qui concerne les préoccupations et les intérêts exprimés par les tierces parties Acp par rapport au maintien de l'accès préférentiel aux marchés de l'Union européenne pour leurs exportations de sucre », ajoute la déclaration.
A cet égard, le groupe Acp note avec satisfaction la déclaration faite le 14 juillet 2004 par laquelle l'Union européenne s'engage à respecter pleinement ses engagements à l'égard des pays Acp et de l'Inde. « Nous sommes tout à fait rassurés par la déclaration faite à la suite de la publication du rapport de l'organe d'appel par Fischer Boel, membre de la Commission, qui a affirmé que la Commission continuera de défendre les intérêts légitimes des producteurs et des consommateurs de sucre aussi bien dans les pays de l'Union européenne que dans ceux des Acp », conclut le communiqué du groupe Acp.
CARIBBEAN
Europe - WTO set to destroy Caribbean economies without discussion
Source: TRINIDAD EXPRESS
Friday May 6 2005 Europe - WTO set to destroy Caribbean economies without discussion
No Caribbean input to main decisions
David Jessop
This group - the US, the European Commission representing the EU, Brazil, India and Australia - meet without exchanging papers or consulting with other WTO members
The Caribbean is, it seems, neither rich enough to be consulted, nor poor enough to receive special treatment
There is, so the saying goes, one law for the rich and another for the poor.
By no stretch of the imagination can the Caribbean - with the sole exception of Haiti - be said to be poor. With a per capita Gross Domestic Product of between US$16,200 (Barbados) and US$ 5,400 (Dominica) it can not legitimately be compared with let us say Bangladesh at US$1,900 or Somalia at US$500 per annum. Despite this, there are in many rural and urban areas across the Caribbean significant pockets of deprivation and poverty.
Over the past decade a few regional nations have managed their way forward to create economies that are largely service industry based but in many commodity agriculture remains significant employing, some figures suggest, up 36 per cent of the population. This is important as it points to the vulnerability to economic shock in nations such as Guyana, Jamaica and Belize that for the most part other statistics fail to indicate.
It does not require much imagination to see that too rapid a reduction in commodity prices will create economic and social regression, a rural to urban drift, crime and even the possibility of political instability. Add to this an almost endemic ineptitude in multilateral institutions in delivering development programmes within finite trade liberalisation processes and the possibility of economic decline and new levels of rural poverty become very real.
If evidence were needed one has to go no further than the UK Department of International Development’s recently produced country assistance plan for Jamaica. This makes clear that the number of people in poverty in Jamaica remains unacceptably high and that its ‘vulnerability to a range of external shocks - including reform of the sugar regime - could undermine or even reverse the process of economic development’.
Regrettably few beyond the region are prepared to understand or debate the implications of statements such as these. Instead politicians, senior officials and powerful non governmental organisations, see the region being as a British Cabinet minister once told me, “too rich by far”.
No one would argue with the need to eradicate poverty globally, the need for special treatment for the least developed nations or the necessity of ending market distortions in agriculture. But there are also important development issues in a Caribbean context that require a more nuanced approach and recognition that a one-size-fits-all response to trade reform has hidden dangers.
On May 4 a World Trade Organisation (WTO) mini-ministerial meeting took place in Paris. In part it sought to unlock the technically complex issue of ad valorem equivalence (AVE). Put simply this mechanism will enable trade negotiators to find a way to apply a tiered system of tariff reductions for all commodities in the WTO’s Doha Round. In practical terms AVE will provide a basis for eventual agreement on cutting tariffs on products entering all markets - including of course the Caribbean – no matter what their origin.
Looked at another way AVE is a step towards enabling huge agricultural producers in nations such as Brazil and India come to dominate markets in which the Caribbean and others in the ACP group presently enjoy a small measure of preference or protection.
How a final decision came about on an AVE formula is a lesson in the increasingly opaque world of WTO decision-making.
For much of the past two weeks officials from a core group of nations known as the five interested parties or FIPs have been meeting to try to resolve the AVE issue. This group - the US, the European Commission representing the EU, Brazil, India and Australia - meet without exchanging papers or consulting with other WTO members. They then, as in Paris, first achieve agreement amongst themselves, then seek the approval of other nations attending informal mini-ministerial sessions of the WTO before taking their endorsed decisions forward to a full meeting of all WTO members.
Unsurprisingly, the EU and Brazil have both pronounced themselves pleased with the outcome of the AVE discussion in Paris. However, the basis for the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson’s remarks that the proposal “has now been accepted by the countries who have the greatest stake in the agriculture negotiations," seems to owe more to enthusiasm than fact if considered from a Caribbean perspective.
In a similar vein other trade decisions in which the Caribbean will find itself caught between being neither rich nor poor are also in the offing.
As has been widely reported, the World Trade Organisations appellate body upheld on April 28 an earlier ruling on a case brought by Brazil, Australia and Thailand against the European Union’s sugar regime. This decision will now result in the EC considering on June 22 a draft regulation establishing the final shape of the changes it proposes to make to its sugar regime that will reduce substantially the prices paid to both EU and ACP producers. But while all European producers of beet sugar are likely to benefit from a substantial compensation package amounting in total to around €1,350m per annum the transitional support for the 19 ACP sugar producers is unlikely to amount to more than €206m over an eight year period.
As if this inequity was not enough it now seems that the EC may be considering proposing an even greater price cut than the thirty seven per cent facing the ACP over the three years starting in mid 2006.
On May 5, the European Voice published a news item that suggested that when EU agriculture ministers meet on May 9/10, Europe’s Agriculture Commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, will propose even deeper cuts. It appears that the Commissioner wants the price to be paid to be closer to world market prices and is against any second phase of price cuts as recommended by her predecessor.
Although any further information on this is hard to come by, some sources suggest that her approach may be related to discussions within the FIPs group in Geneva on the formula to be applied to tariff reductions on sugar. It is also suggested that in order to encourage EU support the Agriculture Commissioner may suggest an extended transition period.
All of which is to suggest that the Caribbean now occupies a strange place. It is, it seems, neither rich enough to be consulted, nor poor enough to receive special treatment, unless that is, the arrangements for economic transition fail.
David Jessop is the Director of the Caribbean Council and can be contacted at david.jessop@caribbean-council.org May 6th, 2005
CARIBBEAN
Caribbean Sugar Producers to Fight Cuts
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
05.12.2005, 08:06 PM Caribbean Sugar Producers to Fight Cuts
Caribbean sugar producers vowed Thursday to challenge looming EU sugar subsidy cuts in the International Court of Justice, saying they violate an agreement signed in the 1970s.
The Sugar Association of the Caribbean will take the matter to the U.N. court even if the region's governments decide against it, said Allan Richards, a spokesman for the association. The association represents sugar companies throughout the Caribbean.
Richards spoke during a meeting of Caribbean Community trade and agricultural ministers, who are expected to announce Friday whether they will take action at the U.N.'s highest legal body.
The World Trade Organization ruled last month that the European Union's subsidies for sugar producers broke international trade rules.
Prior to the ruling, the European Union proposed reducing sugar subsidies to Caribbean producers by up to 37 percent between 2006 and 2008.
The five Caribbean Community countries that still have active sugar industries - Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago - say the subsidy cuts will cost them about US$90 million (euro69.5 million) a year. They're lobbying for a smaller reduction and assistance in adapting to the changes.
Richards said the WTO ruling "did not specifically recommend such a drastic price reduction." He also argued that the subsidy cuts violate an agreement signed in the 1970s in which the European Community agreed to import sugar from former colonies indefinitely at mutually agreed upon prices.
HAITI
Another martyr?
May 12th 2005 | PORT-AU-PRINCE | From The Economist print edition
On hunger strike, Haiti's former prime minister may not last much longer
THE country surely doesn't need another martyr. But the current stalemate between Haiti's interim government and its jailed ex-prime minister, Yvon Neptune, could add to his country's tragic statistics. Mr Neptune is nearly four weeks into a hunger strike (it will be 27 days on May 13th) and he shows no signs of relenting. He could die soon.
Imprisoned last June for his alleged role in a massacre in the coastal city of St Marc, he has still not been formally charged. Hence his hunger strike. In theory, Haiti's constitution requires that charges be presented within 48 hours, though that rarely happens.
At the time of the massacre, Haiti was convulsed by an armed uprising that led to the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the end of February. A few days earlier, up to 50 government opponents were reportedly killed by local police and a violent pro-Aristide gang called Bale Wouze (Clean Sweep). But there is little evidence that Mr Neptune, then prime minister, played any direct role in the attack himself.
The case has further tarnished the rapidly deteriorating image of Haiti's interim government, appointed in the aftermath of Mr Aristide's hurried departure. It could also complicate diplomatic efforts to achieve political reconciliation in the run-up to legislative and presidential elections later this year.
The government's handling of the case has aroused strongly worded criticism from UN peacekeepers and the United States embassy. “This case needs to be resolved very expeditiously,” James Foley, America's ambassador, says: “It's taken way too long.”
Mr Neptune has a special place in American affections. While in office, he secretly co-operated with United States anti-drug agents in the capture of two key traffickers currently jailed in Miami. American officials praise his “courage” in standing up to the traffickers who had corrupted Haiti's police. They also praise Mr Neptune's decision to stay on temporarily as prime minister to assist in the transition of power after Mr Aristide fled the country.
But Haiti's political and business elite has little sympathy for the former prime minister, widely regarded as a pawn of Mr Aristide's lawless rule. While the interim government strenuously denies accusations of political persecution, its handling of the case looks dubious.
NIGERIA
Guns, boats and oil
May 12th 2005 | PORT HARCOURT | From The Economist print edition
A rotten army cannot keep the peace
SEVEN years ago, Nigeria's nastiest military dictator, Sani Abacha, died of a heart attack that was dubbed the “coup from heaven”. An election followed, and Nigeria is now enjoying its longest spell of civilian rule since independence in 1960. President Olusegun Obasanjo has done his best to make coups a thing of the past, purging the army of politicised officers and pampering the Brigade of Guards, which sits behind the presidential villa. Mr Obasanjo's grip on Nigeria's spooks has kept him ahead of coup plotters: an alleged assassination attempt last year was foiled before the plotters could procure the missile to shoot down his helicopter.
Yet Nigerians still fear for their country's stability. Victor Malu, a retired general, said in March that Nigeria was “sitting on a powderkeg”. Ethnic and religious strife, usually stoked by politicians, has claimed thousands of lives since Mr Obasanjo took office in 1999. The security forces, despite training by American contractors, are simply not professional enough to quell it. Recent events in the oil-rich Niger Delta illuminate the problem.
GlobalSecurity.org provides background on the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force. Shell has information about its activity in Nigeria, as does ChevronTexaco. Human Rights Watch reports on Nigeria. See also the Niger Delta Development Commission, the Nigerian presidency and the US Embassy in Nigeria.
In September last year, a bandana-wearing, speedboat-driving, Kalashnikov-toting gentleman called Mujahid Dokubo-Asari threatened “all-out war” on the Nigerian state if his ethnic kin, the Ijaws, were not given more of the profits from pumping oil out of their homeland. Mr Asari, the son of a judge and proud descendant of Ijaw slave traders, commands a militia force of unknown strength but proven ability to cause mayhem.
Since late 2003, fighting between Mr Asari's men and those of a rival militia has cost hundreds of lives and caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes. Mr Asari's men have fought battles not only in the mangrove swamps but also, brazenly, in the streets of Port Harcourt, the biggest oil town. The police have tended to run away, since they “don't have the firepower in comparison to the militia,” as a police commissioner told Human Rights Watch, a pressure group.
Mr Asari's pose as the champion of an oppressed people strikes some observers as risible. Most of his victims have been Ijaws. And if he really plans to share the oil wealth more fairly, that would be a radical innovation. The Delta's villagers are among the poorest in Nigeria, though its governors are probably the richest. Although Mr Asari allegedly first rose to prominence as an enforcer for a state governor, he now draws his strength from public anger at the government's failure to reverse decades of neglect. For the Delta's legions of jobless youths, joining a militia such as Mr Asari's can provide both a pocketful of cash and a sense of purpose.
President Obasanjo has tried to defuse matters. In October, he brokered a ceasefire between Mr Asari and his main rival, a militia boss called Ateke Tom. Both groups have surrendered some guns in exchange for generous compensation. Mr Asari now lives in a spacious two-storey villa in Port Harcourt and swans around in a leather-lined Lincoln Navigator.
Putting out fire with gasoline
Rewarding thuggery is perhaps not the best way to curb it. Mr Asari has not stopped talking about his “armed struggle” for an Ijaw nation. He boasts that he can buy better weapons with the money he received for the old ones. Most worryingly for the government, he retains the ability to disrupt the oil industry.
“This is an example of how you turn off a flow station,” Mr Asari told journalists on a visit to the twisted wreckage of a pipeline near the town of Bukuma. That pipe was abandoned years ago, but Mr Asari's message is clear.
Given the Delta's maze of creeks, it only takes a few dozen fighters to inflict serious damage. Mr Asari used to brag about stealing oil (oil that rightfully belonged to the Ijaws, he said). Now he claims to earn his living as a private security contractor. The big oil firms all deny hiring him, but sub-contractors escorted by police were seen last year begging his “permission” to operate near one of his hideouts.
The oil companies are in a sticky position. Shell and ChevronTexaco have publicly committed to ending unorthodox payments. But one Shell contractor said he still faced pressure to meet production deadlines, which meant somehow dealing with threats to disrupt the flow of oil. “We may not want to, but we do what is necessary,” he said.
The army is supposed to protect oil firms, but its soldiers have an inflammatory habit of shooting people and razing villages. For example, in February, after militants killed 12 people in a dispute over a patch of land being surveyed for oil, the army launched a punitive raid on a town called Odioma, killing 16 people and destroying hundreds of homes. Such tactics help the militants recruit. At a recent rally, Mr Asari told locals that they might as well join his movement since the government would “victimise” them anyway.
The security forces are further compromised by the fact that some officers are no better than the gangsters they are supposed to be crushing. In January, two admirals were convicted of abetting the disappearance of a tanker carrying stolen oil. And your correspondent recently watched men unloading three barges of illicit petroleum condensate, only a few paces from a military outpost. No one stopped them.
LIBERIA/ NIGERIA
Africa's most wanted man :Global law v local warlord
May 12th 2005 | LAGOS | From The Economist print edition
Nigeria is under pressure to extradite Charles Taylor
HE IS perhaps the vilest living African, but Nigeria had good cause to grant Charles Taylor sanctuary in 2003. In August that year, Mr Taylor was still the president of Liberia, but besieged in his capital by two separate rebel armies. To avoid a bloodbath, Nigeria's president, Olusegun Obasanjo, offered him refuge on condition that he came quietly and ceased to involve himself in politics.
Liberia, a small West African state with a long history of carnage, is now relatively calm, thanks to 15,000 UN peacekeepers. Its transitional government, though corrupt, is nowhere near as bad as Mr Taylor's crooked and murderous regime was. Elections are due in October. Mr Taylor now lives in a luxurious villa in the eastern Nigerian city of Calabar. But for how long?
Mr Taylor faces 17 charges of crimes against humanity and similar offences, not for what he did to his homeland, but for the horrors he inflicted on its neighbour, Sierra Leone. A UN-backed tribunal there accuses him of fomenting Sierra Leone's brutal civil war in order to loot its diamonds, thereby causing tens of thousands of deaths. It wants Nigeria to extradite him.
Mr Obasanjo, understandably, does not want to be seen to break his word. But the court's chief prosecutor, David Crane, argues that his obligation to Mr Taylor is over because Mr Taylor has broken the terms of his asylum. Last month Mr Crane accused Mr Taylor of having been behind an attempt to assassinate Guinea's president, Lansana Conté (an old enemy) in January. Confidential court documents also concluded that Mr Taylor is plotting to topple the government of Côte d'Ivoire, whose president is another of his enemies, and that he slipped past his guards to meet collaborators in Burkina Faso in February.
Nigeria has so far said that it will only surrender Mr Taylor to an elected Liberian government. But on May 10th, the United States Senate backed a resolution urging the Nigerians to hand him promptly over to the court in Sierra Leone. The American government dislikes Mr Taylor not only for the obvious reasons, but also because he trained as a guerrilla in Libya and is believed to have laundered Sierra Leonean diamonds through al-Qaeda. Nigeria is keen not to annoy America, since it is lobbying for debt relief. Nigerian papers report that security has been stepped up around Mr Taylor's villa.
MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique Hopes to Export 84,000 Tonnes of Sugar
Source: AGENCIA DE INFORMACAO DE MOCAMBIQUE
May 10, 2005 Mozambique Hopes to Export 84,000 Tonnes of Sugar
Mozambique hopes to export about 84,000 tonnes of sugar this year, bringing more than 30 million US dollars to the country, the director of the National Sugar Institute, Arnaldo Ribeiro, has told AIM.
The exports are to various markets - including that of the European Union, which is planning to enforce, as from June, measures that will be a serious blow to the sugar industries of Mozambique and other members of the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) group of countries.
The proposed reform of the EU sugar regime involves severely reducing the current guaranteed price paid to ACP sugar producers. By 2009, the price could be cut by a third.
"We think that the European Union's measures are too drastic. There are no legal reasons to be so drastic as to cut the price by about 33 per cent in such a short period", said Ribeiro.
The delegate of the European Commission to Mozambique, Pinto Teixeira, said that the new measures ares still under discussion -but he made it clear that the EU is prepared to go ahead and apply them.
Under the proposals, the EU would eventually pay ACP countries a price of about 329 Euros (about 435 US dollars) a tonne, "which for us is extremely low, because that will not allow what we thought the EBA (Everything But Arms) initiative would provide us - namely a good price for some time", said Ribeiro.
Mozambique had hoped that, under EBA, the quota restrictions on the entry of Mozambican sugar into the EU market would be lifted - but it had not imagined that this might be accompanied by a sharp drop in price. Ribeiro thinks that with a good price and hence good earnings for the sugar companies, they would invest in increasing their competitiveness, and reducing production costs.
"A good price would allow us to compete, for instance, with countries such as Brazil", he said.
A major effort has gone into rehabilitating the Mozambican sugar industry, which was laid waste during the war of destabilisation. Four of the six sugar mills in the country are now producing: Maragra and Xinavane in Maputo province, and Marromeu and Mafambisse in Sofala. The rehabilitation so far has cost about 300 million US dollars.
But the investors have not yet recovered the capital they have invested, and their position will become weaker, if the planned European measures are implemented. The EU's plans also make it unlikely that the remaining two mills (at Luabo in Zambezia, and Buzi in Sofala) will be rehabilitated in the foreseeable future.
Ribeiro said that Mozambique is set to produce about 243,000 tonnes of sugar this year, compared with 205,000 in 2004. Most of this is for the domestic market, but Ribeiro also expected a "significant contribution to the country's balance of payments", through the export of about 84,000 tonnes, worth 30 million dollars.
This year the sugar industry is providing employment for about 27,000 Mozambicans, including full time posts and seasonal cane cutters.
CARIBBEAN
Caribbean countries want EU sugar deal
Source: BBC NEWS
Last updated: 11 May, 2005 - Published 21:05 GMT
Caribbean countries want EU sugar deal
Caribbean sugar producers are facing a deep cut in price.
Caribbean Community (Caricom) trade and agriculture ministers want the European Union to provide funds to diversify the sugar industry in the region and upgrade ageing factories.
The move, at a meeting in Georgetown, comes ahead of EU plans to slash prices by up to 37 percent between 2006 and 2008.
Roger Clarke, Jamaica's agriculture minister, said Caribbean sugar-producing nations are demanding that the EU fund a re-capitalisation programme to help them replace antiquated mills, change sugar-cane varieties and get into new products such as ethanol.
He declined to say how much money was needed, but he noted that the sugar industry was already saddled with the high costs of equipment, fuel and labour.
Guyana's trade minister Clement Rohee, however appeared to be less hopeful that the EU will deliver on a proposed action plan to help the industry in the African, Caribbean and Pacific region.
He said the assistance package must come into play as early as possible "so as to anticipate rather simply cushion changes".
Preferential
"... we have heard that we will be offered 'thirty pieces of silver' to help us adjust in accordance with the much vaunted "Action Plan. But what about the socio-economic and psychological implications of this adjustment? Can this be really costed in dollars or Euros?"
Caribbean sugar producers export at least 480,000 tonnes of cane-sugar to Europe at a preferential price of 21 US cents per pound, compared with the world-market price of six cents per pound.
Other topics on the agenda of the Caricom ministerial meeting include stalled talks involving the Free Trade Area of the Americas and plans by the Caricom to establish an EU-style single trading market by year's end.
CARIBBEAN
Guyana Says Caribbean Sugar Faces Uphill Task
Source: PRENSA Latin American News Agency
Havana, May 12 / 14:34 UTC Guyana Says Caribbean Sugar Faces Uphill Task
Georgetown, Guyana, (Prensa Latina) Caribbean Community (CARICOM) sugar stakeholders have been told that the circumstances threatening survival of the region´s sugar industry have become more menacing over the last nine months.
"The dark cloud that hovers over us as a result of the recent ruling by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body on the European Union sugar case has not made the situation less worrisome," Guyana´s Minister of Foreign Trade and International Co-operation Clement Rohee said, according to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Addressing a meeting of sugar stakeholders on Tuesday, Rohee said that "what is mind-boggling about this unfolding drama is the hollow ring that reverberates from all the talk about commitment to the Millennium Development Goals by the European Commission, who at the same time, appears to be hell-bent in pushing through proposals to reform the European Union (EU)´s Sugar Regime."
Rohee said that Caribbean, as well as African and Pacific States, have warned that the reform proposals, if accepted, would "certainly undermine whatever success we achieve concerning the Millennium Development Goals."
He also said there is need to question the promise given by a senior EU official that the EU´s aid package must come into play as early as possible "so as to anticipate rather simply cushion changes".
sus/iom/mf
ACP-EU /EPA
EU seeks to ease Africa's mistrust on trade talks
Source: REUTERS
Thu May 12, 2005 3:09 PM GMT+02:00 EU seeks to ease Africa's mistrust on trade talks
By David Mageria
NAIROBI (Reuters) - The European Union on Thursday sought to allay African mistrust of a proposed new trade regime critics say will further impoverish the continent's poor.
The EU is negotiating with the 77 countries of the Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) economic alliance to bring new trade agreements into force by 2008.
Critics have slammed the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) the EU is negotiating with the six regional blocs in the ACP, arguing that they make unfair trade demands on the poor countries and will harm the poor by eroding fiscal revenues.
The concerns have slowed down talks even as the deadline for a new trade arrangement approaches.
The EU's director of trade, Karl Falkenburg, visiting Kenya to meet representatives from 16 countries of the Eastern and Southern Africa negotiating group, said it was important the talks were pursued much more vigorously.
"It is time to focus, we have a relatively tight calendar," Falkenburg told Reuters. "We want to make sure that the new trade regime could start on January 2008 and I think the new regime will offer better opportunities for Africa."
Falkenburg said the concerns raised by African countries were overdone and he was convinced that by the end of the two-day meeting most of the fears would have subsided.
RECIPROCATE
A major concern is that Europe is acting unfairly by pushing poor countries to reciprocate by opening their markets for its goods. But the EU says it plans to negotiate transitional periods with ACP members before the provision for reciprocity can become effective.
"There is a lot of exaggeration on reciprocity, Europe is not asking for full reciprocity on the 1st day," he said.
Kenya voiced sympathy for the EU position.
"We have to get over some of the anxieties that are triggering negative forces that is slowing down the negotiations," Kenyan Trade Minister Mukhisa Kituyi told delegates.
Another problematic area is the insistence by the EU that the issues of competition rules, investment policy and government procurement be included in the EPAs negotiations.
African trade ministers have opposed the EU's stance on the three issues, saying they would subject their fragile industries to unfair competition from much more developed European firms.
The issues, commonly referred to as the Singapore issues, have been dropped in the World Trade Organisation's Doha round of negotiations but critics say the EU is trying to reintroduce them through the back door.
"The risk is that what we win in the Doha round is ceded in the Brussels negotiations," Kituyi said.
But Falkenburg said the rules were important to bring stability, predictability and transparency that would help attract long-term investors into Africa.
"Today you see investors come here trying to make quick money and run away from the continent because they don't know what conditions they will operate in in three, four, five years down the line," he said.
NIGERIA / WTO
WTO urges Nigeria to be less protectionist
Source: REUTERS
Wed May 11, 2005 4:13 PM GMT+02:00 WTO urges Nigeria to be less protectionist
GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on Wednesday urged Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, to lower barriers protecting its agriculture and industry to make the economy more efficient.
"Liberalisation of Nigeria's trade regime, through the simplification of its tariff structure and the removal of import prohibitions, would promote better allocation of resources in line with its comparative advantages," the WTO said.
In its first report on the country since 1998, the Geneva-based trade body said that over the past seven years Nigeria had become more protectionist.
Its average most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff, which all members of the WTO must grant to each other, had risen to 28.6 percent from 24.4 percent previously.
There had also been an almost 10-fold increase in the number of products subject to import bans during the period under review, the WTO said.
Alongside the increased tariff protection, these restrictions had distorted domestic prices, so undermining the government's efforts to reduce poverty, and had increased the incentive to smuggle goods.
Agriculture, which accounted for 26 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) but employed 70 percent of the workforce, was highly protected.
The average farm import tariff rose to 41.4 percent, from 26.7 percent, and total import bans were in place on some products, including wheat flour, sorghum, cassava and poultry products, the WTO said.
EU
EU farm ministers say sugar reform possible in Nov
Source: REUTERS
Tue May 10, 2005 11:06 AM GMT+02:00 EU farm ministers say sugar reform possible in Nov
By Jeremy Smith
DICKWEILER, Luxembourg (Reuters) - A deal to overhaul Europe's subsidy-heavy sugar policy can be achieved this year but countries will need much more time to cope with the drastic changes foreseen, several EU farm ministers said on Monday.
EU ministers are due to debate reform in November to a system barely changed since its birth in the late 1960s, cutting internal prices that are inflated to more than three times those on the world market.
The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, has called for hefty cuts to prices and the sugar production quotas that are allocated yearly to each EU member state.
Its reform blueprint, floated last year, is now under revision following last month's World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling that rejected Europe's appeal on a 2004 judgment condemning much of the bloc's sugar exports as illegal.
The Commission's revised proposal, when it emerges on June 22, is widely expected to call for harsher price and quota cuts.
Apart from outright opposition to the current plan from at least 10 members of the EU-25, many states want a longer period to adapt to the cuts than the three years now proposed.
"Losing the (WTO) panel shows that we need to reform more than the old proposals," Germany's Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast told reporters. "I think it makes sense to have a political agreement in November this year.
"The point is that after losing the panel, we need more reform -- but without killing the competitive regions, and maybe giving them some years to deal with it."
EU ministers will hold a first debate on sugar reform in July and aim to reach an agreement in November. Existing EU policy expires in June 2006.
"One solution could be to take a route that has some period of adaptation -- slower, and in a few stages. That is imaginable," said Dutch Agriculture Minister Cees Veerman, speaking during an informal meeting of EU farm ministers.
France, usually against wide-ranging changes to EU farm policy, said it backed the idea of agreeing sugar reform in November.
France is by far the largest beneficiary of farm spending worth nearly half the EU's entire annual budget of 100 billion euros.
"I'm not opposed to finding a solution as quickly as possible," French Farm Minister Dominique Bussereau said.
"Now the WTO's decision is known, we don't have any interest in slowing down the reform. The EU has to accelerate the process to get a collective response to the difficulty that faces us."
But there were still some dissenting voices, particularly among the 10 countries that signed a letter last year saying the reform plan, as presented in July 2004, was far too drastic.
Those countries strongly oppose the idea of moving production quotas across borders, which they say will accelerate the collapse of their national sugar industries.
"As it stands, it (reform) is completely unworkable," Irish Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan told Reuters.
"I'm not particularly in agreement with quota transfer. And several large countries are being very quiet: they're not going to lose out."
WTO
Lamy Set to Head WTO
Source: TERRAVIVA-EUROPE
May 13, 2005
TRADE:
Lamy Set to Head WTO
Stefania Bianchi
BRUSSELS, May 13 (IPS) - Pascal Lamy, former European Union (EU) commissioner for trade was set to become the next head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Friday after Carlos Perez del Castillo of Uruguay, Lamy's only remaining rival, withdrew from the race to lead the world trade body.
"I would like to congratulate Pascal Lamy and to wish him the best of luck in his job ahead. I accept the result. I have requested my government to withdraw my candidacy," said Perez del Castillo, a former ambassador to the Geneva-based trade organisation, and chairman of the organisation's general council, which oversees the work of the WTO.
A formal decision on giving Lamy the job will be made May 26.
Lamy, a 58-year-old Frenchman who cites jogging, tennis and cycling as his hobbies, ended a five-year stint as the European Union (EU) commissioner for trade last November.. Before that, he was number two at the French bank Credit Lyonnais SA.
With a budget of 102 million euros (130 million dollars) and 600 staff, Lamy will be responsible for overseeing global rules governing trade between nations.
One of his first tasks as the new chief will be to push for a conclusion of the Doha Development Round (DDR) of global trade negotiations due to be wrapped up in 2006.
Lamy will help guide the WTO at its next ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December which is due to approve a draft deal on eliminating trade barriers aiming at helping poor countries compete on more equal terms on world markets.
The Doha round of trade talks were launched in Doha in Qatar in 2001. The WTO had hoped to complete the talks by the end of 2004, but the talks are months behind schedule.
In an interview with the French financial newspaper La Tribune Thursday (May 12), Lamy said concluding the Doha round of trade talks should be priority for the WTO "because it is clear that it (Doha) will not be concluded unless the developing countries, which account for two thirds of WTO members, are satisfied with the results."
A socialist and former French civil servant, Lamy appeared on the global diplomatic scene in September 1999 when he became the EU trade chief. He was a staunch defender of European protectionist measures in agricultural trade.
He played a key role at the WTO ministerial meeting in Qatar in 2001 which launched the Doha trade round. He helped win over developing countries by promising that the EU would put its controversial farming subsidies on the table if other countries were ready to make reciprocal gestures.
The European Commission, the EU executive, which strongly backed Lamy's nomination, welcomed news of his nomination.
"We understand that following this last round of votes Pascal Lamy emerged as a clear frontrunner. We welcome this. He's uniquely qualified to lead the WTO at this moment," trade spokeswoman Claude Veron-Reville told IPS Friday (May 13).
In order to secure his victory Lamy also needed the support of some of the WTO's poorest members, namely the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries.
During his campaign Lamy targeted this group of countries who have privileged access to EU markets.
"You can count on my conviction, on my commitment, and you can be sure of my ability to resist pressure," he said in a statement delivered before the WTO General Council in Geneva Jan. 26 as part of his campaign.
Lamy, who will serve four years, will have much personal influence, but unlike the chiefs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) or the World Bank, he will have no decision-making powers.
However, it is hoped that Lamy will help raise the profile of the WTO because he is a political heavyweight.
There are also hopes that Lamy's close links with the United States and his friendship with Robert Zoellick, who until this year was the U.S. trade representative, may facilitate efforts to sort out disputes between Brussels and Washington.
But Lamy is regarded with suspicion by many of the world's leading farm goods exporting countries, mostly in Latin America, because of what they see as EU protectionism.
Lamy will take over from Supachai Panitchpakdi, a Thai whose term expires Aug. 31.
The WTO was established in 1995 as a result of the Uruguay round of negotiations, which brought about the biggest reform of the world's trading system.
The WTO is mainly a forum of trade negotiations for its 148 members. It also handles trade disputes and provides technical assistance and training for developing countries. (END/2005)
GUINEE BISSAU
Kumba Yala et «Nino» Vieira présidentiables
Source: RADIO FRANCE INTERNATIONALE
Dernière mise à jour le 11/05/2005 à 17:32 (heure de Paris)
Le 10 mai, la Cour suprême a validé les candidatures à la magistrature suprême des deux présidents déchus, Kumba Yala (2000-2003) et Joao Bernardo Vieira (1980-1999). En vertu de chartes de transition concoctées sur mesure, les deux concurrents avaient pourtant dû renoncer à toute activité politique, jusqu’en 2008 et 2009, respectivement. Au final, la Cour suprême a retenu 21 candidatures et rejeté 7 dossiers. Elle ne donne pas d’explications juridiques à ce tri éminemment politique. La transition ouverte en septembre 2003 aurait déjà dû s’achever sur des élections, le 8 mai. Ces dernières semaines, des interventions bilatérale, panafricaine ou internationale se sont multipliées à Bissau pour que la transition ne joue pas les prolongations, au-delà de l’investiture du président qui sortira des urnes le 19 juin.
Avant de repartir au Portugal, muni d’un passeport diplomatique mozambicain offert par l’ancien président Chissano (médiateur en Guinée-Bissau), Joao Bernardo Vieira, «Nino» Vieira, avait fait son retour dans l’arène politique nationale, le 7 avril dernier. Le «vieux» chef s’était alors employé à effacer le souvenir peu glorieux de son exfiltration au Portugal, six ans plus tôt. Il a en quelque sorte lancé sa campagne présidentielle ce jour-là, dans les vrombissements de l’hélicoptère militaire bissau-guinéen posé dans un stade de la capitale, sous les acclamations de milliers de sympathisants. Ce test de popularité n’a toutefois pas rendu à «Nino» les certitudes acquises pendant ses quelque deux décennies de pouvoir. Celles-ci se sont largement noyées dans la sanglante mutinerie de 1998.
Depuis sa déposition en mai 1999, «Nino» Vieira n’a jamais retrouvé la confiance pleine et entière de l’ancien parti unique, le Parti africain pour l’indépendance de la Guinée-Bissau et du Cap-Vert (PAIGC). Cette fois, le PAIGC a d’ailleurs choisi d’investir Malam Bacai Sanha. Ce dernier avait provisoirement succédé à Vieira pendant la transition consécutive à son départ forcé. Le 19 juin prochain, Malam Bacai Sanha sera le candidat du parti historique d’Amilcar Cabral. «Nino» Vieira sera en lice lui-aussi, comme candidat «indépendant», c’est-à-dire sous sa propre étiquette. La mise en concurrence de Sanha et de Vieira fait des remous au sein du PAIGC. Mais c’est sans doute en comptant sur les bonnes dispositions de Vieira à tenir ses partisans plutôt qu’à les ameuter que les conseillers et les médiateurs, venus au chevet de la Guinée-Bissau pour en concilier les extrêmes, ont entériné le verdict de la Cour suprême qui remet également en selle Kumba Yala.
Victime d’un coup d’Etat militaire, Kumba Yala paraît toutefois pouvoir tabler sur la majorité balante (40 % de la population et une proportion écrasante des militaires). Son Parti de la rénovation (PRS) l’a réinvesti sans hésiter le 26 mars dernier. Les autres nominés de la Cour suprême se situent assez loin du trio Yala-Vieira-Sanha dans les pronostics des connaisseurs. Parmi les rejetés de la Cour suprême, une exclusion fait tache : celle de Francisco Fadul. Candidat du Parti uni social-démocrate (PUSD), Fadul était pourtant Premier ministre pendant la transition de Sanha (1999-2000). Certains évoquent le handicap de racines syro-libanaises.
L'armée promet de rester dans les casernes
Pour sa part, le président de la transition imposée en septembre 2003 par la junte militaire, Henrique Rosa ne figurait pas sur la liste des candidatures soumises à la Cour suprême. Il avait promis de quitter le fauteuil présidentiel à l’issue de la transition. Le 18 mars dernier, une annexe à la Charte de transition adoptée en même temps indiquait qu’il devrait rester encore un peu en poste, «de 40 à 60 jours, pour éviter un vide constitutionnel au sommet de l'Etat à la fin de la période de transition le 8 mai», le temps que les Bissau-Guinéens choisissent un nouveau président, le 19 juin. Mais Henrique Rosa a déjà trouvé un fauteuil de substitution. Le 10 mai, l'Organisation pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Gambie (OMVG, qui rassemble la Gambie, la Guinée-Bissau, la Guinée Conakry et le Sénégal) l’a élu président en exercice de l’organisation sous-régionale. Il succède pour deux ans au président guinéen Lansana Conté.
Pour le représentant de Francisco Fadul, candidat invalidé, la Cour suprême a tout bonnement rejeté «les faibles, ceux qui ne sont pas liés à l'armée» ou qui n’ont pas de gros bras à leur service. La semaine dernière en tout cas, l’état-major de l’armée avait jugé utile de produire un communiqué officiel pour assurer qu’il «n'existe aucune crise militaire en Guinée-Bissau» et que «les militaires sont et resteront dans leurs casernes où ils rempliront leur mission de sauvegarde de l'intégrité territoriale contre toute intervention visant le pays et son peuple». Dans l’immédiat c’est surtout la menace de nouveaux troubles civils qui préoccupe les citoyens bissau-guinéens. C’était aussi le souci de l’envoyé spécial de l’Onu, l’ancien président du Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano. Mardi, il affirmait qu’il avait reçu l’engagement de «l’armée» qu’elle ne troublerait pas la présidentielle et respecterait «strictement la légalité et l'Etat de droit dans le pays». Le soir même, la Cour suprême publiait la liste tant attendue depuis le 29 avril. Pour expliquer ce retard, le vice-président de la Cour avait invoqué la question des candidatures Yala et Vieira.
Avant de quitter Bissau, Joaquim Chissano a fait appel au sens de la responsabilité de chacun pour que la décision de la Cour suprême soit «calmement accueilli par tous». D’après lui, l’armée interviendra seulement «en cas de nécessité et à la demande des autorités compétentes, pour appuyer les forces de police dans le maintien de l'ordre public». Mais Joaquim Chissano veut croire que «les Bissau-Guinéens peuvent, ensemble, avec détermination et patriotisme, organiser des élections avec succès». Pour sa part, le président du Sénégal voisin, Abdoulaye Wade, assure que «l'armée veut que tout le monde puisse se présenter». Tout le monde, c’est-à-dire en particulier Kumba Yala, «Nino» Vieira, mais aussi Malam Bacai Sanha.
Monique Mas
Article publié le 11/05/2005
Dernière mise à jour le 11/05/2005 à 17:32 (heure de Paris)
CARRIBEAN
CARIBBEAN SUGAR SITUATION MORE WORRISOME SAYS CARICOM MINISTER
Source: CARICOM SECRETARIAT
May 11 2005 CARIBBEAN SUGAR SITUATION MORE WORRISOME SAYS CARICOM MINISTER
Press Release - CARICOM Secretariat
(CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana) Guyana's Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Hon. Clement Rohee has suggested that the recent ruling by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Appellate Body on the European Union (EU) Sugar case has made the situation for sugar in the Caribbean more "worrisome". Minister Rohee was at the time addressing the Second Meeting of Sugar Stakeholders being convened on Tuesday, 10 May 2005 in Georgetown, Guyana.
The Appellate Body has upheld the 2004 findings of a WTO Panel that: the European Commission (EC) has provided financial resources through cost-subsidisation exports; the EC's sugar exports are in excess of its export subsidies reduction commitments notified to the WTO; the EC has acted inconsistently with its obligation under the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA); the EC's violation of the AoA has "nullified" and "impaired" the benefits "accruing to Australia, Brazil and Thailand."
Guyana was a Third Party to both the original Panel and the Appellate Body. It made oral presentations in both instances and joined with the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in filing joint third participants' submissions.
Minister Rohee said CARICOM has been "ignored with respect to its demands for a fair and equitable deal, including a much less severe reduction in the price of Sugar, starting 2008 instead of 2006, and introduced over an eight year period rather than a three year period."
The Caribbean's request for the establishment of a "Competitiveness Fund" he said has also fallen on "deaf ears". In light of this and the European Commission's further refusal to provide funding for some fifteen sugar projects, proposed through the Intra-Association of ACP Cooperation, the Minister challenged stakeholders attending the Meeting to hold the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson to his promise for an early EU assistance package to the Region to reduce the impact of the new Sugar Regime. Minister Rohee added, "I believe the time has come to end the shadow boxing with the Commission. We must engage frontally with the Trade Development and Agriculture Commissioners, since they have themselves expressed a desire to discuss these matters with us."
The first Meeting of Sugar Stakeholders was held in September 2004 and since then many of the decisions adopted have either been implemented or are being vigorously pursued, the Minister noted. He added, "We have engaged in a successful lobbying exercise culminating with a historic Joint Declaration with the Spanish Authorities in the Reform of the Common Market Organisation (CMO) for Sugar."
While pointing to the backing of a number of key EU Members States, the Minister called for further and deeper dialogue with the Caribbean Diaspora, and key influential international NGO's for greater support for the Region's position on Sugar.
The Sugar Meeting is expected to make recommendations on the way forward to the Ministerial Session of the Nineteenth Meeting of CARICOM's Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED), which begins on Wednesday, 11 May in Georgetown.
PACIFIC / FIJI
Fiji’s Position On The Pacific Plan Endorsed
Source: PACIFIC MAGAZINE
Wednesday: May 11, 2005
FIJI: Fiji’s Position On The Pacific Plan Endorsed
Fiji’s Cabinet has endorsed Fiji’s broad national position on the Pacific Plan.
In a submission to Cabinet earlier this week, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Kaliopate Tavola explained that the Pacific Plan was envisaged as the new direction for future regionalism in the Pacific.
”Critical issues for Fiji in the Pacific Plan included the proposed regional expansion by Air Pacific Ltd, taxation laws for Forum countries, tourism, biosecurity technical assistance, market access, security and trade facilitation,” Mr Tavola said.
Mr Tavola said that the Biwako Millennium Framework, which provided for an inclusive barrier-free and rights-based society for persons with disabilities in the decade 2003-2013, should be reflected in the Pacific Plan.
He said Fiji’s stand that rather than just a gender sensitive approach to all sector, gender equality should be targeted, where any reference to the Conventions on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Action Plan, must cover both female and male.
Fiji’s national consultation was held in March 2005 in the form of a one-day workshop bringing together Government agencies, private sector and civil society organizations.
A Cabinet sub-Committee chaired by Mr Tavola will look at various issues raised in the Plan and the critical issues for Fiji.
The final draft of the Pacific Plan will be presented to Leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Papua New Guinea in October.
The Pacific Plan was initiated at the Forum Leaders’ Meeting in Auckland in 2003 where Leaders felt the need to re-examine existing levels and means of regional co-operation with a view to finding a better way of taking the region forward together …. PNS
