more from Mike Moore (WTO)

rc-am rcollins at netlink.com.au
Fri Sep 3 21:50:58 PDT 1999


[here's moore, replete with all the rhetorical flourishes that he learnt in the NZ trade unions/Labor: being productive (a real proletarian or a real merchant no less) is a sign of virtue which places one above the requirement of democracy; the lack of support amongst the poor for 'globalisation' is a failure to communicate; all that approachable drivel about being a man of the people because he eats in the canteen, and wants to celebrate and say over and over again that dogs that don't bark should be listened to... hope you give the guy a good reception in seattle ...woof woof -- Angela.]

----------- Financial Times interview with the new WTO head, Michael Moore.

- - "we're democratic and the ngo's who criticize us

don't represent anyone and haven't produced anything"

- - "we're doing what we do for the poor"

- - "non-governmental organisations, he says, have bigger

budgets and more educated people at their disposal than

some sovereign nations."

Financial Times, September 3, 1999

FT INTERVIEW: Mike Moore

The World Trade Organisation needs to promote the

benefits of globalisation for poor as well as rich

countries, its new head tells Guy de Jonquieres

Mike Moore, who took over this week as head of the

World Trade Organisation, is a committed champion of

the underdog. The son of a poor New Zealand farming

family, he was a social worker and trades union official

before he entered politics and served briefly as the

country's prime minister. He says he knows what it is

like to be struggling and vulnerable.

"What has been important to me in my life, intellectually

and morally, is a burning sense of unfairness and

injustice," he says. "I keep finding myself instinctively on

the side of the battlers, of those who have been knocked

out, who haven't got the benefits, who cannot engage."

Mr Moore's social idealism is as unusual in the stuffy

diplomatic environment of the WTO as his chummy,

no-nonsense manner. He eats in the WTO canteen

rather than the executive dining room, and has

impressed staff by making impromptu visits to their

offices. He is also the first non-European to hold the

world's top trade job.

His open and approachable style is likely to prove an

asset in a post whose influence depends on personal

diplomacy. Lacking formal powers or big budgetary

resources, Mr Moore, who is 50, will need to convince

WTO members that he will serve all of them as impartial

referee, conciliator and deal-broker.

He has no time to lose. The job has lain vacant since

May, and important business has stagnated, while the

organisation's 134 members struggled to resolve a bitter

deadlock over who should succeed Renato Ruggiero as

its director-general.

Furthermore, the WTO is increasingly under attack from

vociferous and well-organised opponents of globalisation,

who are threatening mass protests at its ministerial

meeting in Seattle in late November. Mr Moore expects

responding to such critics to be an important part of his

job.

He is confident that the leadership contest has left no

lasting scars, insisting the run-up to the Seattle meeting

will force governments to unite. He also says he is on

good terms with Supachai Panitchpakdi, his Thai rival for

the job, who will succeed him in three years' time.

The Seattle meeting is supposed to set the world trade

agenda into the next millennium. However, partly

because of delays caused by the leadership contest,

WTO members are still far from agreeing on objectives,

or how to achieve them.

Richer countries are calling, with varying degrees of

enthusiasm, for a new world trade round. But many poor

ones are cautious, saying industrialised economies must

first do more to help them by implementing liberalisation

pledged in the Uruguay Round.

Mr Moore declines to spell out a detailed wish-list for the

Seattle meeting. But he believes its outcome will hinge

on how generous industrialised powers will be. "They

know they are not going to get the things they want out

of Seattle unless others can see some benefit," he says.

A tight-fisted attitude would not only blight the meeting

but could also set back reform efforts in developing

countries. "There are lots of terrific people out there

trying to make a go of it. For them to fail because

wealthy countries won't allow access to their markets

would be criminal."

Mr Moore would like tariffs abolished on poor countries'

exports. But he says their plight cannot be tackled

through trade liberalisation alone. He is ready to fight

for an increase in the WTO's skimpy budget, to provide

them with more advice and support, and wants to

intensify co-operation on development programmes with

the World Bank and other international economic

institutions.

His motives are as much ethical as economic. He says

he believes in the WTO and a rules-based multilateral

trade system because they promote international justice

by protecting the rights of countries so small that "prime

ministers answer the switchboard".

That, he says, is a point the WTO's critics have failed

to grasp. "The people who march in Seattle will be

marching against opportunities for poor countries to sell

their products and services . . . the countries that have

been more open have better human rights, better living

standards and more commerce."

In one sense, Mr Moore sees the popular controversy

surrounding the WTO as a healthy symptom: "During the

Uruguay Round, we complained about apathy. In Seattle,

we'll be complaining about activists." He also says many

of the WTO's critics are "good kids".

However, he is angered by allegations by

non-governmental organisations that the WTO is

undemocratic, and by their claims to represent a broad

swathe of public opinion. "It does irritate us that

someone who never sells a product, never gets a vote

and doesn't actually do anything can come out and

attack you."

They needed to remember that the WTO was bound by

rules made by the representatives of member

governments, which in turn were chosen by their

peoples.

"When I see this institution being told it's undemocratic,

I think of the ambassador of India, the greatest democracy

on earth. I think of small island states that have to form

governments for a few thousand people. This is their

institution. It's as democratic as it gets."

What worries him is not the often flawed arguments used

by the WTO's critics, but the growing influence they

exert on national governments and parliaments. Several

non-governmental organisations, he says, have bigger

budgets and more educated people at their disposal than

some sovereign nations.

So how can the WTO fight back? Making its procedures

more open to public scrutiny is not enough, Mr Moore

believes. He plans to take on its detractors directly by

taking every opportunity to broadcast the message that

everybody gains from free trade.

The recovery of the global economy from turmoil in

emerging markets was a huge tribute to the resilience of

the trade system. "Just imagine the implications for Asia

if markets in the north had closed. Sometimes it's the

dog that doesn't bark that ought to be listened to. These

are things that ought to be celebrated and said over and

over again."

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