Poor nations told to keep off Non-Agricultural market deals

NAIROBI: The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has told developing countries and least developed countries to keep off Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) negotiations.

During a press conference yesterday where civil society groups were presenting their positions on the ongoing WTO talks, ITUC's policy advisor Georgios Altintziz told the struggling countries to steer clear of NAMA negotiations as they would essentially be punching above their weight.

Besides, he said, they would be reducing their leverage on negotiations of outstanding Doha Development issues, among them agreements on agriculture, industrial tariffs and non-trariff barriers and trade remedies. The NAMA issues refer to all products not covered by the Agreement on Agriculture. They include manufacturing products, fuels and mining products. Over 90 per cent of world merchandise exports are NAMA. "Ours is a general call on developing countries not to join in these agreements or negotiations as there is nothing for them. By sticking out on these issues, they could also lose leverage in what is at stake for them in terms of agricultural gains," Altintziz said.

Although NAMA is not high on the agenda, two of its components- agreement on IT products and environmental goods pact - are likely to feature. Experts complained developed countries were pushing hard for a better NAMA deal yet they are refusing to loosen up on intellectual property rights, which would improve access for renewable energies.