Philippine contributions in the ongoing agri trade negotiations

( Conclusion )

Do we have a chance in these negotiations?

Considering the overwhelming persuasive powers (read: resources and the many strings that can be pulled) of the developed country blocs, our chances may be slim. Consider too that in the negotiations, these countries deliberately refused to debate is on this proposal even as several key developing countries (ASEAN 4, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the non-Mercosur Latin American countries) have vocally registered their support. In the last renegotiating session this November, we succeeded in regotiating within the Cairns Group to incorporate our interlinkage framework in its recently revised proposal on market access.

Trade negotiations, in our experience, are not about justice, fairness or being right. To prevail, one must be able to persuade the other parties, hopefully at the least cost in terms of concessions. For a small country like the Philippines with very limited resources for negotiations advocacy and lobbying, this is much similar to negotiating with terrorists: The developed countries (who continue to pollute the markets with distortions from their subsidies) demand market access concessions for any miniscule commitment on their part to reduce those same subsidies. Come to think of it, our inability to fully realize the potential benefits from trade liberalization is one of the real causes of poverty in this country, which in turn continues to feed violence and terrorism.

Tactically speaking, however, our objective of putting forward this proposal as a viable alternative with significant support has been attained. The chairman of the Agriculture Negotiating Committee in the WTO can no longer ignore our interlinkage proposal in his draft modalities agreement paper due on Dec. 18. For this, our new breed of negotiators deserve our thanks and encouragement.

Much technical work, and hard and shrewd negotiating need to be done next year in the run-up to the March 2003 deadline for modalities or rules. This is the very core of the negotiations. After determining the rules, the rest will just be straightforward technical work.

Despite the odds, I remain optimistic about our chances for a fairer deal as long as we have the support of government, the private sector and our core developing country allies. Together with the latter, for as long as we do not falter and succumb to the enticements of the developed country blocs, we remain a significant force than can block any consensus that is prejudicial to our interest.

Concluding remarks

I am hopeful that this administration’s intellectual contributions to these negotiations will go beyond being a mere footnote in the history of the WTO.

But assuming that we attain even modest success in these negotiations, it does not follow that we automatically reap the potential benefits of expanded market access opportunities and the significant reduction of trade distortions. We have to reconfigure and fully finance our domestic support system along the very lines specified by AFMA and the Fisheries Code. We need to balance and complement this with market-oriented policies that facilitates trade, domestic and international.

Even in our own backyard, our farmers cry for access to domestic markets. We should also remember that in an increasingly globalized world, the difference between domestic and international markets become increasingly narrow. How can we hope to exploit export market access opportunities when our farmers have difficulty exploiting domestic market access opportunities? It is a sad fact that in our very own domestic markets, many farmers lose to the heavily supported foreign competition by default.

It has always been my constant concern that even if we gain market access opportunities, we fail in exploiting them not because we are uncompetitive but because of the persistent lack of that critical mass of government support that constrain the release of our true competitiveness. Provided extremely modest resources, we at the department tried to hold the fort and succeeded in maintaining our modest gains. We will have to do a lot much more just to be able to climb that ring, clobber the competition and win for the country.