Though the Kingdom is not yet a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), observers say that the recent meeting in Qatar was fruitful. Commerce and trade, as we know, are more than economic exchanges; they depend on openness, sincere dialogue, shared opportunities, partnership, and the recognition of mutual interests and freedom of choice. In brief, the final decision according to the head of the US delegation is summarized as follows: “Just as the Cold War was an outcome of World War II and reflected a race between differing values, so our strategy today depends upon the economy and the fight against terrorism.”
We have, however, no clue if the alliance against terrorism is a constructive or destructive scheme, empty or meaningful words. At the meeting, the US delegation paid special attention to the wealthy and powerful while, at the same time, muting any doubts as to what is happening in Afghanistan. The head of the US delegation, taking upon himself the dominant role, saw to it that both India and Brazil had time to express their opinions but made sure that very little time was allotted to the eleven Arab delegations. The protesters at the meeting were faced with another topic in addition to the accession of China and Taiwan; it was that without exception, there must be unanimous agreement on all economic topics over the next two or three years. Amazingly, the French delegation was among the strongest protesters at the meeting; the French aim was to escape restrictions on aid to framers, agriculture and its byproducts. The French position is largely due to the forthcoming French elections which depend heavily on the workers in that vital sector.
The head of the Indian delegation, however, was adamant that his views be taken into account before he would agree to anything. Brazil was shrewd enough to play the game successfully and win the consent of the other members on the matter of patents. The most interesting outcome was that the US gave its agreement to all matters sponsored by underdeveloped countries — even to matters which had previously been rejected. Sept. 11 changed many things and this is only one of them; US agreement was for the most part only in principle and thus many topics were moved to the agenda for the forthcoming WTO meeting and of course, we have no way of knowing what may happen between now and then. As we have seen, events can change today’s certainties into tomorrow’s uncertainties.
Sadly, neither a report by the UAE industrial bank in defense of the host country nor the voice of the other ten Arab participants was taken into account by the influential wealthy Western countries. The Arab countries wanted to bring up the economic, social and cultural problems of 200 million Arabs; solutions were not expected but notice was desired. It is not clear how successful these countries were in defending their products and exports and whether they managed to make the point that the WTO should take into account the interests and advantages of non-member states as well as of members. The Arab delegations should have concentrated on economic issues rather than political ones. We should also not be fooled by what is happening; the US and the other industrial nations are trying to drive the entire world into the WTO by using the mechanism of carrot and stick. It is well known that the Arabs are not united and do not agree among themselves on many issues. They must learn to differentiate between political and economic issues and should look carefully at what happened in Qatar and learn from the outcome of the meeting there.
