1. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
DISSATISFIED WITH EU/RICH COUNTRIES SLOW SPEED IN LIBERALISING
TRADE IN CLOTHES AND TEXTILES
A group of
developing countries that export textiles and clothing has
sharply criticised industrial powers, including the EU, for
failing to live up to their commitments to liberalise trade in
the textile and clothing industry. An article published by the
IPS (Inter Press Service) reports that a group of 24 developing
countries that make up the International Textiles and Clothing
Bureau (ITCB) this week called on the EU, the US and Canada to
take concrete steps towards real and meaningful liberalisation of
textile and clothing quotas. In letters sent to these three
powers, the ITCB state that the powers have eliminated only a
fraction of their protective quotas. The GATT Uruguay Round in
1994 called for quotas on textiles and clothing from developing
countries to be progressively phased out by industrialised
countries over a period of 10 years. The ITCB argue that besides
assisting developing countries, the removal of textile quotas
would bring great benefits to consumers in Europe. According
to a study commissioned by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign
Relations, EU restrictions on imports of textiles and clothing
are becoming a burden to consumers in the EU. Protectionist
policies cost the EU more than 25 billion dollars a year or about
280 dollars for a family of four.
The ITCB points
out that only 33 % of the textile and clothing industry has been
integrated into the Uruguay Round accords on the liberalisation
of trade by the countries using quotas. The EU has
eliminated only 14 of 219 quotas.
The
action from ITCB follows the European Commission’s proposal
this week to eliminate all remaining restrictions on imports of
62 categories of textiles and clothing. Industrialised countries
were required by GATT to liberalise quotas for textiles and
clothes in four phases. The EU barely managed to meet the
requirements for the first two phases. A report in the
‘South-North Development Monitor’ states that the
products the EU plans to include in the next stage are limited to
clothing intended for children under 86 cm tall. According to IPS
the timing of the Commission’s announcement is linked to the
meeting of the WTO’s trade policy review board for the
periodic evaluation of the international community’s
compliance with organisation’s neo-liberal policies.
2. DIAMOND
INDUSTRY BOWS TO PRESSURE ON CONFLICT DIAMONDS
The
World Federation of Diamond Bourses and the International Diamond
Manufacturers Association (IDMA) this week announced, at the
World Diamond Congress in Antwerp, a new certification system to
monitor trade in rough diamonds. This move follows pressure from
a number of civil society organisations including some Eurostep
agencies calling on the diamond industry to stem the flow of
‘conflict’ diamonds that finance armed rebellions in
Africa.
According to a
report in Terra Viva Europe, a daily journal produced by IPS, the
issue of conflict diamonds dominated the three-day congress that
brought together diamond traders and government officials.
Despite UN embargoes on diamonds from rebel-controlled mines in
Sierra Leone and Angola, revenues from illegal diamond sales have
enabled rebels in these areas to pursue destructive military
campaigns.
‘Fatal
Transactions’, an international campaign network involving
Global Witness, Medico International (Germany), NIZA (Dutch
Institute for Southern Africa) and Eurostep
organisations -Intermon, and Novib, has been calling for better
monitoring of the diamond industry to curb the illegal sale of
diamonds from conflict areas.
Global Witness in
June called on the diamond industry to agree to a number of
proposals to regulate the diamond industry. These include the
following:
All
diamond centres to only allow the import, export and re-export of
rough diamonds where the country of extraction is known and which
has a verifiable product audit trail.
Agree
to the establishment of an International Diamond Committee,
consisting of representatives from the diamond industry,
governments and NGOs to monitor such verification and to carry
out other necessary reforms.
Commit
to the implementation of an international certification system
based in national legislation.
Establish
a system of penalties for companies, countries and individuals
that are found guilty of dealing in conflict diamonds.
The
creation of a permanent industry-working group.
Set a
realistic timeframe to implement these reforms.
Under
the diamond industry proposal, any country that is knowingly
involved in the trade of illicit diamonds will lose its export
accreditation. The industry also promised to set up an
international body to monitor the trade, which would includes all
major industry groups, as well as government and civil society
actors and possibly the UN. According to the IPS report, the
IDMA thanked the NGOs for highlighting the issue of conflict
diamonds.
A
representative of Global Witness also informed IPS that the
Congress had adopted the core recommendations of Global Witness. But
though civil society representative expressed general
satisfaction with the measures taken by the diamond industry,
they stated that much work remained to be done in the
implementation of reforms on the establishment of an
international certification process and a system for independent
monitoring of the process.
3. EU GUIDELINES
ON BANANAS FAILS TO IMPRESS ALL PARTIES INVOLVED
The EU’s
proposals on reforming its banana regime (See PAF 188) has failed
to impress any of the parties involved in the dispute, i.e. the
US, the Latin American countries and the banana producing ACP
countries.
Last week’s EU
General Affairs Council authorised the Commission to implement
only the first part of the Commission’s strategy, i.e.,
exploring the possibility of finalising a practical and
acceptable mechanism for the breakdown of quotas for banana
exporters to the EU on a ‘first come first served’
basis. It refused to give the Commission the ‘go ahead’
to negotiate a tariff solution, in the case that the Commission
fails to find an acceptable mechanism on quotas.
Latin American
banana exporting countries have described the EU’s proposal
as an attempt to block all efforts to solve the 8-year problem. According
to the European press, the ACP are preparing to endorse Caribbean
ACP country’s opposition towards the ‘first come first
served’ approach proposed by the European Commission as well
as the tariff solution.
The US while not
formally reacting to the EU proposal has argued that other
options exist which could be considered, other than the two-part
reform, which the EU continues to examine in view of achieving in
2006. The US has expressed its support for the proposal based
on quotas made last year by a small group of Caribbean countries.
It has asserted that it is the EU and not the US that is
benefiting from any continuation of the dispute, while exports
from their partners suffer (according to the WTO at least US$ 400
million).
4. DATES FOR
ACP-EU REGIONAL SEMINARS ON PROGRAMMING OF AID
According
to a representative from the European Commission there are new
dates for the ACP-EU regional seminars co-organised with the ACP
Secretariat and the Commission, as part of preparations for the
implementation of the new ACP-EU Agreement. The dates are as
follows: Central Africa: Gabon, 11-12 September; East Africa:
Mauritius, 18-19 September; Southern Africa: 4-5 October,
Swaziland; West Africa: Burkina Faso, 11-12 October; Pacific:
Tonga, 24-25 October. The Caribbean seminar is likely to take
place in November. A venue is yet to be decided. One civil
representative of each ACP country is supposed to be invited to
participate in the seminar of his/her region.