The World Trade Organisation is holding its 10th Ministerial Conference (MC10) in Nairobi from 15 to 18 December. Foreign Minister Amina Mohammed will be chairing the conference. It will be a challenging undertaking. The minister was expressing a common African sentiment when she said (in Geneva on July 1) that the Doha Development Agenda negotiations cannot be concluded without “credible” developmental outcomes in Nairobi. She went on to say African countries will blame Kenya for hosting the 10th ministerial meeting in Nairobi when all their developmental demands are pushed under the carpet for concluding the round. 
Need for East Africa and Africa to Unite at the MC10
Minister Amina is right.
Oduor Ong’wen, the executive director of the ODM, congratulated the minister for her statement. In times like this, all nationalist forces must join hands and not let the WTO divide and rule the nation (or the region, or Africa).
I write as chairperson of SEATINI (Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations Institute). I was also, from 2004 to 2009, the executive director of the South Centre. The SC is a policy and research think tank of the global South based in Geneva. It was founded among others, by the late Mwalimu Nyerere. SEATINI is an NGO. Since 1997, we have been engaged in developing technical and negotiating capacity of East African trade negotiators in Geneva as well as in the capitals of East African countries. We have also been working with national MPs and members of the EALA.
We want MC10 to succeed. By “we” I refer not just to SEATINI but the broader civil society and the private sector in East Africa – the sector that adds value to production and marketing within the region. Our exports outside East Africa are mostly commodities – unprocessed, that is without “value addition” (to use a technical term from economics). Our intra-regional trade is mostly in value-added manufacturing products.
Let us not rush to “conclude” the Doha Development Round (DDR)
I want us to take an optimistic view of the outcome of the MC10. But the unfolding scenario does not look all too promising. The “Big and Powerful” (US, Europe, Japan) want to “conclude” the DDR, and push on for a new round (it’ll probably be called the “Nairobi Round”). I can also say this would have disastrous consequences for East Africa and for Africa.
Space does not allow a full analysis of a number of significant issues of concern to us. Here I focus on only agriculture. I will write another piece on industry. I hope these will open space for other stakeholders (such as the Kenya Small Scale Farmers Forum and the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry … and their counterparts in the rest of the region) to join in the debate.
Agriculture: Issues of major concern to Africa
1. Food sovereignty based on domestic production, and control over the basic means of production such as land, water, seeds and technology.
2. Agriculture as first and foremost a livelihood issue. A foolish and hasty step towards trade liberalisation will put at risk the livelihood of millions, especially small-scale farmers.
3. However, smallholder farming as it is now cannot transform Africa. It is incumbent on Africa to transform agriculture so that it becomes ‘industrialised’. But Africa has been blocked from industrialisation. The colonially structured division of labour has located agriculture in Africa and industry in Europe.
4. The removal of serious inequities agriculture. For example, the African countries are not able to provide domestic support to their agriculture, whereas Europe and the United States provide these. The illegal subsides to American cotton producers, for instance, have the virtually destroyed the cotton sector in Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali (called the C-4 in the WTO).
5. Commodity prices and terms of trade have moved against Africa in a long-term secular trend over the last 30 years. The prices of commodities have gyrated wildly in recent years, creating havoc in agriculture. This has created “internal refugees”; thousands risk their lives as refugees to Europe – the region most responsible for Africa’s agricultural devastation.
6. Indigenous knowledge and the threat of genetically modified organisms to local seed varieties is a matter of great concern to Africa. Africa’s concerns include: opposition to the patenting of life forms; sovereignty in making regulations affecting food security and health; and the protection of biodiversity enshrined in the convention on bio-diversity.
7. Appropriate protection from dumping of subsidised agricultural products from Europe. Europe has often talked about decreasing the subsidies; actually, it has increased these over the years … and they are still increasing.
8. Market access to Africa’s agricultural commodities.
The WTO has effectively reversed the order of priority by placing the last item first and the first item last. Market access becomes the core of all negotiations. Europe cannot industrialise without Africa’s commodities.
In the next piece, I will focus on industry. Briefly, I can say with the massive tariff liberalisation that the US and Europe are demanding from us, we risk the future prospect of industrialisation. Among the industries most affected in Kenya are: processed oil products; chemical products for agriculture; commodity chemicals; medicines, vaccines and antibiotics; intermediate industrial products; vehicle industry; and books, brochures and other printed material.
Can we win against the “Big and Powerful”?
Can we, to use Minister Amina’s statement, achieve “credible” development outcomes in Nairobi?
Yes we can.
At the November 1999 Seattle Ministerial conference, the African Union had threatened to walk out in protest against its exclusion from negotiations between the “Big and Powerful”. Africa was treated as if it did not matter. African governments, backed by street protests, refused to endorse the outcome. No deal was better than a bad one. This led to the collapse of Seattle. We do not wish to “Seattlise” Nairobi. We want a “credible” development outcome. The Empire must not push us around.
Source: The Star

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.