Day Four, everyone’s tired and cranky

Fish and pork

If the fisheries producers’ unions are here in Hong Kong to lobby for their industry, the pork producers’ council isn’t far behind. Almost all the industries of the US are present in the island city to present their case. Most of the time they are busy convincing the media how Europe is giving more subsidies to their agriculture sector, which needs to be addressed first. With both EU and US asking each other to bring down their subsidies first, these lobbyists will be going home happy.

…And the teachers

The global union of teachers has also jumped onto the WTO bandwagon, asking the governments to remove education services from the general agreemnt on trade in services. The teachers say as the boundary between public and private education becomes blurred in many countries, the danger is that commitments made in private education could easily expose the government schools. Under GATS, the government will lose its right to private education, which is bothering the teachers.

Medicines sans frontiers

Some of the biggest lobbying is happening in the pharma industry. While NGOs like Medicines Sans Frontiers are organising events here saying how multinationals are not making drugs available to the poor, the other lobby is busy in subtle negotiations so that none of the governments should go back on the patent bills signed earlier. It is, therefore, a tug of war between the MNCs and the NGOs. Guess who’s winning?

High price for security

Hong Kong government is paying a packet to enforce security arrangements in the island city. The bill, according to a conservative estimate, is as high as HK $500 million (US $66 million). All roads to the conference venue have been closed and many businesses around the venue has been closed. Hong Kong however is making the best of the opportunity. It is holding media conferences every day to highlight how the city has progressed due to the free market economy and why rest of the world should follow suit. It’s yet to be seen how many countries take up the advice seriously.

Tonga is here

If you think Tonga is a horse-driven carriage, it’s time to have a look at WTO’s 150th member. The South Pacific island became the latest member of the WTO and a signing ceremony was held here yesterday. But relief agency and NGO Oxfam criticised Tonga’s entry, saying the country will have to now slash import tariffs which till now was paying for the country’s 10,000 citizens’ health and education. Tonga will have to fix its tariffs at levels lower than any other country in the history of the WTO, with the sole exception of Armenia, says the Oxfam.

— DEV CHATTERJEE