Newsgroup: it.politica
Titolo: WTO e democrazia

Appena giunta la notizia che il prossimo round del WTO lo fanno... nel
Qatar!
Piu' precisamente, nella monarchia assoluta del Qatar, con pena di
morte, punizioni corporali, legge islamica e
prigionieri politici a iosa.
Grande spirito di liberta' e democrazia, questa WTO!
Se veramente l'unico modo
per pararsi dalle manifestazioni e dalle critiche e' scegliere posti
simili per riunirsi, si vede che Seattle ha colpito nel punto giusto.
GT
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/

 Qatar!
George, ma non dire fesserie! Mike Moore - il Direttore del WTO - sta
ancora combattendo per convincere la gente ad avere un nuovo round,
figurati se è stata fissata la sede.
Qui sotto ti riporto il testo integrale del discorso che Mike ha tenuto
a Hyderabad due settimane fa (l'11 gennaio scorso) per convincere gli
Indiani a dargli il loro appoggio sulla necessità del nuovo round (di
cui al momento né Americani, né Europei, né Giapponesi vogliono sentir
parlare). Leggilo con attenzione. Ti sarà utile - da ora in poi - per
avere un'idea di quello di cui stai parlando quando ti occupi del WTO.
Bye bye, Albert
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Hyderabad, India, 11 January 2001
The multilateral trading system: Where are we headed?
The Partnership Summit Hyderabad, January 2001
Ladies and Gentlemen, Ten years ago, India's computer industry had sales
of $150 million. This financial year, its exports are set to reach $6
billionÑ13% of India's total exports. Hyderabad is now known as
Cyberabad. Soon Indian companies such as Infosys, Wipro and Satyam could
be household names around the world. This outstanding success shows how
information technology and open trade together offer new opportunities
for people to better their lives.
Thanks to strong political leadership, economic liberalisation, and the
inherent entrepreneurial skills of Indian businesspeople, India's
economy is now growing at over 7% a year. As trade barriers have fallen,
trade has become a more prominent part of this success story. This is
powerful evidence that globalisation has the potential to lift more
people out of poverty more quickly than at any time in human history.
But let us be clear about the scale of the challenge ahead. There are
more than a billion people in India. The software industry employs a
mere 340,000 of them. The Indian software programmers that work for US
companies using the Internet are the exception, not the rule. Many
people in developing countries can scarcely read, let alone use the
Internet. Most of those who are literate do not have access to the net.
In India, there is one Internet host for every 55,000 people. In the
United States, there is one for every seven people. Clearly, it is a
major challenge to make sure developing countries are not left behind in
the Internet economy.
To prevent the digital divide between North and South becoming a chasm,
developing countries need at least four things. One is skilled workers.
India has plenty of them: it accounts for a third of the world's
software engineers. Two more are access to computer technology at world
prices and efficient, low-cost telecoms. Here the WTO can help. Its
Information Technology Agreement eliminated import duties on a range of
computer hardware and its Basic Telecoms agreement supports the
liberalisation of telecoms services. More still needs to be done. The
final requirement for success in the digital age is free access to
rich-country markets. Rich-country markets are reasonably open, but
obstacles remain, for instance, for Indian software engineers who want
temporary visas to work in America or Europe.
India has a huge interest in freer trade in the IT sector. It is one
powerful reason why India should be fighting for a new round of
negotiations at the WTO. Throw in the prospect of freer trade in
agriculture and cuts in industrial tariffs, and the case becomes all the
more compelling. The Tinbergen Institute estimates that the annual gains
to India from a new round could top $11 billion, raising India's
national income by 4.4%.
A strong push for a new round from India could be decisive. We are
approaching a critical juncture at the WTO. Over the past year we have
successfully rebuilt confidence in the WTO. We have purged the bad blood
that poisoned relations among member governments and we have
demonstrated to the outside world that the WTO can function effectively
and fairly. But I would have to say we are approaching the limit of what
we can achieve outside a new round.
Let me run through last year's achievements. First, we welcomed six new
members: Jordan, Georgia, Albania, Croatia, Oman and Lithuania. While a
few thousand protested in the streets of Seattle, Washington, London or
Prague, 24 million people joined the WTO last year. It is a dramatic
referendum in support of rules-based, multilateral trade liberalisation.
And it brings us ever closer to being a truly World Trade Organisation.
Many more countries should soon be joining. China, Chinese Taipei,
Armenia, Moldova and Vanuatu, for instance. Others, like Russia and
Ukraine, are also in the queue.
Second, we worked through an important package to help the world's
poorest countries reap greater benefits from the world trading system.
27 richer countries made improved market-access offers. We increased
technical assistance. And we are co-operating more closely with other
international organisations that promote development. The Integrated
Framework, a plan for inter-agency co-operation on trade-related
technical assistance to the least-developed countries, has been
reinvented and rejuvenated. We expect it will deliver solid results
early in the current year.
Third, we made progress on involving all our 140 members in our work.
This included the development of special initiatives to facilitate the
full participation of smaller missions and non-resident members in all
aspects of our activities. We ran a second Geneva Week to update
non-resident members on our work. We continued to set up Internet
reference centres in member countries to keep members better informed of
our work. We lent our support to a major meeting of African trade
ministers and officials in Gabon, Libreville to assist them to play a
fuller role at the WTO. We are also continuously working to be more open
and accountable, and we have recently revamped our website.
Fourth, we established a mechanism for addressing developing countries'
concerns arising from the implementation of their Uruguay Round
commitments. We achieved some modest but significant results at our
special General Council in December. This process will continue.
Last but not least, we launched negotiations on agriculture and
services, which together account for two-thirds of the world economy. So
far, they have gone remarkably well. We have probably made as much
progress as we would have done within the context of a wider round. In
agriculture, where the aim is to reduce protection and support, many
countries and groups have submitted negotiating proposals. In services,
which covers everything from tourism to telecoms and finance to
computing, the aim is to expand the service agreement's country and
sector coverage and remove restrictions on market access and national
treatment. There is a great deal of interest from members, although
negotiations on market access in specific sectors have not really
started. No government is obliged to liberalise, or make commitments.
But most now realise that an efficient service sector is essential if
the rest of the economy is to thrive and that by making commitments,
they will attract valuable foreign investment and know-how.
The negotiations on agriculture and services will pause for stock-taking
in March. This pause could become a deadlock. Several countries have
stated that they will not negotiate meaningfully on liberalising
agriculture unless they can open new markets for their exporters in
other sectors at the same time. We need trade-offs that only a wider
negotiating agenda can best provide.
A similar logic applies to our implementation review. Modest progress
has been achieved. India has been a leader in these negotiations. But it
is naive to believe that all of developing countries' difficulties in
implementing the Uruguay Round agreements, as well as its perceived
iniquities, can be dealt with in isolation. More substantial reforms can
best be achieved through new negotiations. I have always believed that
we can do more for the most people through a new round. If the present
system is unsatisfactory, if the status quo is not good enough, then in
capitals and in Geneva we must get to work and advance on many fronts to
provide as much comfort and space as possible to our owners, the
governments.
We urgently need a new impetus to broaden the negotiating agenda.
America's long boom is drawing to a close, with potentially worrying
consequences for the world economy. Further trade negotiations are an
insurance policy against pleas for protection when economies turn down.
The use of anti-dumping and countervailing duties is soaring,
threatening the gains from past liberalisation. Producer support
estimates for agriculture are rising again, according to the OECD. And
there is a growing danger that the increase in bilateral and
plurilateral trade deals could come to be seen as a substitute for,
rather than a complement to, multilateral liberalisation and a
non-discriminatory set of rules to govern international trade. A
continued absence of multilateral liberalisation will encourage the big
players to act unilaterally and carve up markets through preferential
trade agreements. The rule of law could gradually give way to the law of
the jungle.
Further trade liberalisation should not be a hard sell. The gains to the
world economy from the Uruguay Round alone come to over $240 billion a
year. That's not a bad return on the $75 million that governments
contribute each year to the WTO's budget. The Tinbergen Institute
estimates that developing countries would gain $155 billion a year from
further trade liberalisation. That is over three times the $43 billion
they get annually in overseas aid.
Yet the freer-trade coalition is apathetic and fragmented. We need to
mobilise it and unite it. Launching a new round will not happen by
default. It will only happen if sustained pressure on governments
produces the political will needed to adopt more flexible positions in
sensitive areas. Narrow interests must be examined in the context of
pursuing the greater good. EveryoneÑthe US, the EU and developing
countriesÑhas to realise that they have a shared interest in
strengthening the WTO system.
India could play a pivotal role, both in its own right and as an example
to other developing countries. We can debate endlessly in Geneva about
the perceived injustices and imbalances of previous trade agreements.
But while we do, we are doing nothing to prevent even greater injustices
in future. Who can afford to miss out on the opportunities of the
Internet age? Not India. Not any country.
To build a strong global community of the future, we urgently need
progress on all fronts. This will require India's leadership. The
developing world looked to India for leadership in the past. Now the
whole world recognises India's unique position economically and
politically. We need your advice, leadership and enthusiasm if we are to
advance on all fronts to achieve the sort of progress needed in this new
year.
Thank you.
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 figurati se č stata fissata la sede.
Beh, sei rimasto indietro.
http://www.democracynow.org
Proprio sulla pagina principale (per adesso).
D'accordo che e' un meeting, non un round.
GT
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 D'accordo che e' un meeting, non un round.
Tu confondi un meeting con un round e *io* sono rimasto indietro?
Andiamo, George!
A parte questo, l'elenco ufficiale dei meetings lo trovi nel sito del
WTO. Per le prossime settimane ce n'è parecchi, ma non quello menzionato
dai tuoi amici: have a look.
E cmq, hai letto il discorso di Mike? Any comments, figliolo?
Bye bye, Albert
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 dai tuoi amici: have a look.
Scusa, se intendi dire che non e' menzionato l'incontro nel Quatar, ti
sbagli tu:
----------------------
Qatar to host 4th WTO Ministerial
The General Council, on 30 January 2001, accepted the offer of the
Government of
Qatar to hold the Fourth WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar. The date
of
the Conference will be announced at the General Council meeting on 8
February
2001. The General Council also authorized its Chairman, in cooperation with
the
Director-General, to start consultations on both organizational and
substantive
matters related to the preparations of the Fourth Ministerial Conference and
to
report back to the General Council.
--------------------
Fonte: 
www.wto.org
Se invce intendevi qualcos'altro, chiedo scusa.
Ciao
    GC

 Se invce intendevi qualcos'altro, chiedo scusa.
No no, intendevo proprio quello, e m'ero sbagliato (avevo guardato il
bollettino dei meetings e non la Home Page). Grazie per la correzione e
scusami tu (ed anche tu, George).
