The stakes are very high in Cancun. The battle is on and the ground has been set. The elephants, antelopes and flies will be scrambling for survival, for a piece of the cake in Cancun.

Many issues will be debated in Cancun but there are four that many agree will be hotly contested. The US and the EU (backed by their economically sound TNCs and private sector) will be fighting to keep their agricultural subsidies in place, while pressing for an agreement on New Issues and the further liberalisation of trade in services. On the other hand, developing countries will be fighting to protect their agriculture and finding solutions to the health problems that have bedevilled their countries as a result of the TRIPs Agreement.

Cancun will be a litmus test for the success of the Doha Development Agenda particularly on the four issues that are of interest to developing countries viz:

The New Issues

A package of four issues, commonly called Singapore or New Issues (Investment, Transparency in government Procurement, Competition Policy and Trade Facilitation) are in the oven, ready to be cooked in Cancun when developed countries go ahead to use Cancun as the launch pad for a new round of trade negotiations in these areas. Investment would give multinational corporations “executive” powers in local economies and wipe out governments’ sovereign powers in regulating them. It would give new rights to foreign investors not to be accountable even to the people and the environment in the countries they are working in.
Developing countries will be focussing on closing out any attempts to introduce these issues.

Agriculture (AoA)

Industrialised nations, particularly the US and the EU are subsidising their Agriculture to the tune of US$1 billion a day (EU) and US$18 billion per year (US). They are refusing to lower their tariffs or reduce subsidies to their commercial agribusiness. Developing countries want market access to northern countries and an end to the dumping of cheap agricultural products on their markets, that are undermining the viability of local industries and indigenous farmers.

TRIPs and Public Health

Access to drugs by the majority of people in developing countries has been hindered by the WTO’s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement. The TRIPs Agreement is the largest protectionist agreement in history and extends 20-year patent rights to companies that invent medicines, rather than allowing others to produce cheap and effective generic versions of life-saving drugs. The Doha Declaration mandated WTO members to find an expeditious solution by the end of 2002. Up to now no agreement has been reached because of sharp differences between the US, the EU and developing countries. What will happen in Cancun? Is a permanent and lasting solution likely to be found?

Services (GATS)

Big bang free-fall liberalisation together with privatisation, is one of the neo-liberal policies that has threatened the provision of social public services in developing countries. Globalisation has brought with it the continued loss of government control over provision of services, to corporate business including education, health care, water and municipal services. Already the Draft Cancun Ministerial Text is pushing for further liberalisation. What will this do to the people of the developing world - women, children, the environment, jobs? Society’s most vulnerable will be unable to access these most basic of resources.

These four issues will form the core of the Cancun Ministerial Conference. The developing countries must come together, close ranks and work for the betterment of their impoverished people and economies. They will be fighting for their own survival, for sovereignty, education, health, jobs and especially for freedom: freedom from hunger and exploitation.