> First ,the authors are "bewildered" by the
>variety of the human race. We might euphemistically call that
ethnocentrism.
Doug: It's the Financial Times, not The People's Weekly World.
^^^^ CB: Come to think of it, I guess it is a good sign that some Financial Times reporters were bewildered by the meeting. That probably means something good _was_ going on.
Doug: Uh, the Cancun meeting collapsed with no decisions, real or unreal, actually made. Because the poorer countries walked out. Again, not the rich countries' cabal you'd gather from reading Laurie Wallach.
CB: Now I get the picture. There's struggle going on there.
GRANMA INTERNATIONAL Havana. December 15, 2005
Differences between rich and poor hard to solve in the WTO
HONG KONG, China, December 14.—The contradictions between the underdeveloped and developed nations within the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization seemed insoluble today, at the end of the second day of the meeting, PL reports.
While the streets of the city were the scenario of further confrontations between anti-riot forces and anti-globalization activists, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Brazil and India reiterated that agricultural subsidies must be eliminated.
Jorge Taiana, the Argentine foreign minister, highlighted the discrimination against the countries that produce goods and processed agriculture products, which works against their possibilities of sustained growth and prevents their poverty being reduced. He called for the elimination of all forms of subsidies on exports, a dramatic reduction of internal aid and improved access to the markets for those goods.
The problems of the developing countries are not going to be solved with monetary improvements, handouts or more unfulfilled promises, he stated.
His colleagues, Celso Amorín of Brazil and Kamal Nath of India, stated that they were awaiting action by the United States and the European Union to pull negotiations out of stalemate. On behalf of the Group of 20 (G-20) countries in development, they called for a date by which subsidies on exports are eliminated.
Bo Xilai, the Chinese minister of trade, said that the developed countries should open their markets and do more to help and protect the poorest and most vulnerable nations; if not, there is a risk of a disaster occurring.
The second session of the Summit, which continues until Sunday, was also marked by a confrontation between the Washington and Brussels delegations. The EU accused the United States of making personal benefit from the food aid program for the Third World, and called on the WTO to regulate those plans.
The United States is utilizing those programs to place their agricultural products in other markets in an unworthy way, according to EU spokespeople.