‘Bureaucrats achieved little in Bali Ministerial’
The country’s 12 civil society organisations (CSOs), working with development and economic issues, Saturday said instead of bureaucrats political leadership should play the pivotal role in the multilateral trade talks. They criticised the Bangladeshi delegation, lead by bureaucrats, for its inert role in securing a concrete and time-befitting position for the country in the recently held WTO’s (World Trade Organisation) 9th Ministerial.
The Ministerial was held in Bali, Indonesia from December 3 to 6. A Bangladeshi delegation, led by the commerce secretary, attended it.
The opinion from the CSOs came at a roundtable styled — “Hype and Hypocrisy in WTO: Was Bangladesh Ready?” — held at the National Press Club in the city.
The programme was jointly organised by twelve CSOs, including Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh (EquityBD), Bangladesh Krishok Federation (BKF), and Bangladesh Shurokkha, Ogrogoti Foundation (SOF).
The speakers at roundtable said visionary political leadership remains an unavoidable and decisive factor to achieve some results from the WTO deals. The participation of such leadership was strongly visible in the performance of the countries like India, who forced the world to accept their stance on agricultural subsidy.
EquityBD director Barkat Ullah Maruf presented the keynote paper in which he felt that Bangladesh should have supported the issue of food security, raised by India, to include in the AoA (Agreement on Agriculture).
The role of Bangladesh delegation was, therefore, criticised by other participating countries, it said.
“There were misconceptions about achievement of the LDC Package, in fact, which is still vague without any legal bindings. Bangladesh and other LDCs have to work it out in next 12 months in the WTO Trade Negotiation Committee.”
“In respect of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), Bangladesh needs to invest money to develop customs and other import infrastructures only to facilitate importing commodities of multinational companies,” the paper pointed out.
“But a country like Bangladesh has its own priority to invest in the basic services, related to poverty alleviation,” it commented.
Barkat Ullah Maruf said active political leadership is a major necessity to lead the WTO trade talks and develop Bangladesh’s position for the post-Bali issues, as the delegation led by bureaucrats achieved very little in Bali.
“The LDC package is a weaker package, as it didn’t include mode 4 of DDA (Doha Development Agenda). The accord produces no new gains for Bangladesh, and it is hardly going to make any difference for the LDCs” Maruf said.
EquityBD chief moderator Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said the presence of a minister in the Bangladesh’s WTO delegation could provide a different image. It could be helpful for important diplomatic negotiations through exploring the opportunities created in the WTO conference.
“The WTO meeting was important for Bangladesh, as more than half of its total GDP is connected with global trade.”
“There will be the post-Bali issues, like – government procurements, foreign investments etc. So, negotiators now have to find a long-term solution to change the rules that stand in the way of getting market access of poor countries to the developed countries, like the US and Canada ” he added.
BKF president Badurl Alam said Bangladesh should support the Indian position on agro subsidy, as it was related to right to food.
“Bangladesh should be a pioneer in raising climate-related issues, like – subsidy in green energy to reduce carbon emission,” he added.
SOF secretary Jibanananda Jayanta said political leadership must take interest on futuristic issues, and national institutions should conduct adequate research in this regard.
EquityBD director Mustafa Kamal Akanda delivered address of welcome.
-With The Financial Express input
