[Marxism] Differences between rich and poor hard to solve in the WTO

["Walter Lippmann" <walterlx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

(This received major coverage on the evening news here in Cuba
last night, including dramatic coverage of the phalanx of cops
in Hong Kong holding the protesters back from the meeting site.)
===============================================================

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.

Differences between rich and poor hard solve in the WTO

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 Barzil 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.



________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism