Who’s afraid of the WTO?
Amidst protests from thousands of rowdy anti-globalization protesters who took to the streets in Hong Kong, the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded its latest meeting last month with open-ended negotiations on a new global trade pact and more promises to provide aid and assistance to the poor countries of the world. Labor unions and human rights groups lambasted the talks as “a betrayal” of the poor.The most pivotal agreement to come out of the conference is a pledge from the developed nations to end farm export subsidies by 2013. The move is one of the WTO’s weak attempts to help the least developed countries (LDCs) enhance their export competitiveness.Egyptian Minister of Foreign Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, chair of the African contingent, which represents 25 of the WTOs 32 LDC’s, said in a statement that “dramatic rich-country promises to help poor countries expand exports could fail without a change in how billions of dollars in aid are managed.”The reality is wh
