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Promoting South-South Civil Society Cooperation

Issue No. 10, 2005
A quarterly E-Newsletter
Published by CUTS-Africa Resource Centre, Lusaka, Zambia

CONTENTS


EDITOR’S NOTE

Hong Kong – What Hope for Least Developed Countries?

Trade ministers from 149 member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be holding the Sixth bi-annual Ministerial Conference scheduled at Hong Kong, on December 13-18, 2005. The conference is intended to discuss the process of negotiations under the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), which addresses issues, among other areas, such as tariff reduction formula for industrial goods, non-agricultural market access (NAMA), agriculture subsidies, special & differential treatment (S&DT), quota and duty free market access and preferences for the least developed countries (LDCs).

To reach a fair agreement at the Ministerial, an open-minded, bold, and development-friendly approach by the rich countries would be needed, bearing in mind that not all trade reforms are favourable to the poor countries. However, the 50-member LDC group needs to push for reforms that would benefit the poor citizens in their respective countries. To this effect, it would be of great importance thata consensus could be reached on fair trade issues pertaining to multilateral trading system (MTS) by the end of the Ministerial. Above all, Zambia has a specific interest as it is chairing the LDC group.

Editor


ACTIVITY REPORT

Media Training Workshop on Trade and Economics
CUTS-ARC, Civil Society Trade Network of Zambia (CSTNZ), the Service Centre for Development Cooperation (Kepa) Zambia and Panos jointly organised a one-day media training workshop on trade and development for journalists on November 2, 2005 at Lusaka, Zambia. The objectives of the workshop were to:

  • create awareness among the journalists about WTO issues;
  • enable them understand WTO Agreements and their implications for Zambia; and
  • encourage media reporting on trade and WTO issues.

About 15 journalists participated in the workshop.

More on: http://www.cuts-international.org/eventsreport2005.htm#nepad29nov05

National Preparatory Workshop for the Sixth WTO Ministerial
CUTS-ARC, in association with CSTNZ and Kepa Zambia, organised a one-day workshop, aimed at building consensus and identifying Zambia’s Priority for the Sixth WTO Ministerial, at Lusaka, Zambia, on November 3, 2005. The objectives were to:

  • provide a proactive forum to brainstorm, lobby and advocate for a more focused national position on the WTO agreements;
  • create an opportunity to discuss the draft national priority paper and make recommendations to the delegation for the Ministerial; and
  • prepare a focused and well thought-out declaration on Zambia’s position and strategy.

More on: http://www.cuts-international.org/eventsreport2005.htm#nepad29nov05

National Consultative Workshop on NEPAD

CUTS-ARC, in partnership with Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Zambia, organised a two-day national consultative workshop on New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) agriculture programmes at Lusaka, Zambia, on November 29-30, 2005. The workshop was held under the partnership project entitled, ‘Information-based, Advocacy, Networking and Capacity Building on NEPAD in Zambia’. The objectives were to:

  • discuss NEPAD agriculture programmes in the context of the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP);
  • build capacity among the development partners from the civil society, private sector and government to have a comprehensive understanding of the NEPAD agricultural programmes; and
  • identify feasible projects that can be implemented under NEPAD for the betterment of small-scale farmers in Zambia.

More on: http://www.cutsinternational.org/eventsreport2005.htm#nepad29nov05


NEWS BRIEFS

Kenyan Government to Amend EPZ Act
 Kenya is to amend the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) Act, 1990 to make it more supportive to the local investors. According to David Nalo, Kenya’s Trade and Industry Permanent Secretary, “the Act as currently constituted was discouraging local investors, most of whom lacked start-up capital and skills to compete with accomplished manufacturers”. He said that the Ministry of Trade was discussing with the treasury the modalities of assisting local entrepreneurs under the business incubator programme.

A key aspect of the programme would be to facilitate access to cheap credit for export business. The EPZ Act was established in 1990 to promote and facilitate the export-oriented investments through tax incentives to both local and foreign investors. The Act has, however, been seen as favouring foreign investors who have access to the capital they need to invest in the business.

(Source: www.allafrica.com, December 3, 2005)

WTO's Draft Ministerial Text Spells Disaster
The WTO's Draft Ministerial text for the upcoming Hong Kong Ministerial Conference spells disaster for the developing countries, according to the Zambian Commerce Minister, Dipak Patel. Patel, the coordinator for the LDCs group at the WTO conference, further added that the current Doha Round of negotiations were launched with the intention to focus on development, but to date, the development component is completely missing.

(Source: The Post, Zambia, December 5, 2005)

Subsidies Removal: No Benefits Guaranteed for Uganda
Uganda will join other poor countries in fighting for the removal of state subsidies to the farmers in developed countries at the coming WTO Ministerial. However, analysts have raised doubts whether this will be of any short-term benefit to Uganda and called for more government intervention in the trade and agricultural sectors, so that whatever outcome emerges out of Hong Kong Ministerial is not wasted. This is crucial because the western economies, such as the US, Japan and the European Union (EU) members give subsidies to their farmers. This continues to undermine the capacity of the LDCs to compete favourably in the world markets for agricultural products that are produced in those countries.

(Source: www.allafrica.com, December 4, 2005)

WTO Special: Farmers to Make Noise
Campaigners from Southern Africa are bracing up for the WTO talks in Hong Kong. Some of them even plan to send representatives to the Hong Kong Ministerial to protest against unfair trade agreements – particularly those related to agriculture. The representatives will include two cotton farmers from Zimbabwe, according to Ntando Ndlovu of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZCDD), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the capital Harare.

"The farmers from two countries will be in Hong Kong and make noise using anything, including the beating of drums” Ndlovu said urging Mozambique and South Africa to send cotton farmers in support of their Zimbabwean counterparts.

(Source: Inter Press Service, South Africa, December 2, 2005)

Zambia Takes on Smugglers
The construction of a warehouse at the Kasumbalesa border between Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo will help reduce the high levels of smuggling between the two countries. The move would also promote trade between the two countries. The warehouse funded by the Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry (MCTI), Zambia in collaboration with the Zambia Chamber of Small and Medium Business Association (ZCSMBA) would also increase informal trade between the two countries.

(Source: The Times of Zambia, December 2, 2005)


EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

LDCs and Developing Countries Synergise Priorities

CUTS-ARC, in partnership with Organisation Development and Community Management Trust (OCDMT) Zambia, Both Ends, the Netherlands, Malawi Economic Justice Network, and Southern Africa Regional Poverty Network (SARPN), South Africa, will hold a panel discussion during the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong, on December 13, 2005. The objective is to synergise least developed and developing countries’ priorities at the Ministerial.

PUBLICATIONS

Newsletter

Tradequity

The current issue of ‘Tradequity’ focuses on common negotiating position, which were adopted in the Doha Work Programme (DWP), for LDCs ahead of the WTO Ministerial at Hong Kong in December 2005.
The issue highlights the two Declarations: the ‘Livingstone Declaration’ adopted by LDCs trade ministers at Livingstone, Zambia, on June 25-27, 2005, and ‘Cairo Declaration’, adopted by African Union (AU) trade ministers at Cairo, Egypt, on June 8-9, 2005. In addition to the regular updates on economic, trade and environmental issues, the issue also illustrates the outcome of the two ‘Declarations’, which listed NAMA, S&DT, and trade in services as the main areas of concern.

For more details contact:
lusaka@cuts.org and cutsarc@zamnet.zm

Policy Brief

PRSP and HIPC Completion Point: Unravelling Zambian Experience
The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative launched to create a framework for debt relief to the world’s poorest and highly indebted countries, with the objective to enhancing economic growth and reducing poverty is challenged with the limitations of its approach. The criterion for calculating the amount of debt relief required to reach sustainability is not suitable for achieving the stated objectives. This dilemma is particularly evident in countries, such as Zambia where enhanced external resource inflows that are required to meet the high levels of poverty and the social spending could easily be curtailed to ensure that the debt sustainability is not breached.

This policy brief discusses that the current debate on debt sustainability vis-à-vis poverty reduction should be seen in a much broader context than is currently is the case, so that the needs and the requirements of the poor countries are better appreciated and addressed.

For more details contact:
lusaka@cuts.org or cutsarc@zamnet.zm or www.cuts-international.org

Contact Us:

Africa Resource Centre
Suite 4.11, Main Post Office Building,
Cairo Road, P.O. Box 37113, Lusaka, Zambia
Ph: (00) 260-1-224992
Email: cutsarc@zamnet.zm
lusaka@cuts.org

About CUTS-ARC Sounds

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