New Oxfam Report Running into the Sand: How Failure at Cancun Threatens the World's Poorest People

Oxfam-America
Tuesday, 2 September 2003

Members of the World Trade Organization are staring failure in the face on the eve of their biennial ministerial, says international agency, Oxfam in a report released today. From September 10th-14th trade ministers from over 100 countries will meet in Cancun, Mexico, to discuss reform of world trade rules but they look set to fall down on promises made to tackle poverty and commit to a development round, Oxfam's report Running into the Sand argues.

Justin Forsyth, Oxfam's Director of Policy, said: "The chances of success in Cancun are slim. Rich countries have repeatedly stalled over key issues that would have built trust in the WTO and this 'development' round of talks. Cancun is already soured with frustration and anger over broken promises: rich countries must change course and take this vital opportunity to make trade fair."

Forsyth warned: "Failure at Cancun will do to the WTO what the Iraq war did to the UN: undermine its influence and marginalize it. Our paper shows that the WTO is facing two types of challenges: in some areas, including reducing agricultural subsidies, it must do more; in others, like promoting investment rules biased in favour of rich countries, it should do less."

Oxfam's report insists that rich members of the WTO must stop paying high levels of subsidies to their farmers that lead to surplus produce being dumped onto poorer fragile markets. This export dumping is destroying the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers; ending it is justly a priority for developing country governments. Rich countries must also stop using the WTO to force poor countries to rapidly open their markets, and recognise the need for poor countries to protect vulnerable industries in the face of unfair competition, the report says.

Access to affordable medicines for poor countries is another issue highlighted by Oxfam. Recent negotiations have seen developing countries placed under enormous pressure to accept a flawed deal. At Cancun, the primacy of public health over patent rights must be asserted and the TRIPS text rewritten according to the pledges made at Doha.

Disproportionately high tariffs faced by the world's poorest countries seeking to export to rich countries should be reduced, Oxfam's report argues. According to new research, the US imposes trade taxes on poor countries like Bangladesh that are 14 times higher than for rich countries like France, and eight times higher for Vietnam than the Netherlands. The report also recommends that the EU should abandon its reckless pursuit of the so-called "new issues" agenda, under which it is pressing poor countries to accept uncontrolled foreign investment.

Oxfam will be presenting a "Big Noise" petition with over 3 million names to the WTO in Cancun, calling on them to honor the commitment made at the last ministerial in Doha to reform the trade rules in order to make trade work for the poor.

Read the Briefing Paper: Running into the Sand

For more information, or to contact Oxfam-America, see their website at: www.oxfamamerica.org