G-120: A Token Alliance or More
by Anuradha Mittal
In a display of solidarity among developing countries, the G-20, G-33, the ACP, LDC, Africa Group and Small Economies joined together today to announce their “harmonized positions.”
In a press conference, the group called G-120, recalled the pledge of the Doha mandate to put development at the heart of the round.
While recognizing the diversity of situations and perceptions that they represent, the group committed to uphold the interests and needs of developing countries, especially the least-developed among them.
Zambia's trade minister and leader of the group of Least Developed Countries, Dipak Patel, said, “We’re not looking for elegant uses of the English language. We’re looking for what and when” – referring to the tariff- and duty-free access that the LDCs have long demanded. He got an applause when he added: “And if you can’t tell us what and when, then you need to answer: what part of ‘no’ don’t you understand.”
The formation has the potential to make it harder for the developed countries to pressure the world’s poor countries to agree to greater liberalization in agriculture, non-agriculture market access, and services. However, the real test of the group's strength will come in the next few days. The new grouping is already facing pressure from rich countries.
In a press release put out by IBON Foundation, a Philippine based think tank, "the new alliance will have to stand up to the rich country governments if it is going to make any headway in dealing with the worst anti-development aspects of the WTO and the ironically named “Doha Development Agenda”. This is the real test, and it would be a pity if the formation of the “G-120” becomes reduced to just another token exercise of the WTO’s supposedly “democratic’ processes and the alleged capacity of weak governments to assert themselves in it."