'WTO should stay out of agriculture'

The speakers cautioned at a conference on 'Sustainable Development' that the WTO regime cannot deliver goods to the world until and unless it is based on a just and equitable system.
Azra Talat Sayeed, an expert on WTO, talked about the onslaught of globalisation and the resultant trade liberalisation and WTO-related policies in the agricultural sector, and stressed that the WTO should stay out of agriculture. She recommended people's ownership over means of production as the only viable solution to the problem.
Zia Awan while making linkages between violence against women and trafficking talked about socio customary-practices where women are treated as objects and commodities.
Rubina Saigol of Action Aid suggested that trafficking should also be linked to the phenomenon of globalisation. Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Executive Director Saba Gul Khattak recommended that all Afghans staying back in Pakistan and not repatriating to Afghanistan should be registered so that they have a legal status that qualifies them for all civil rights.
Abu Eusuf from Bangladesh, in his paper on trade liberalisation and poverty, said that large and medium-scale enterprises had gained form the competition from the opening up of trade, however, unskilled labour and small-scale businesses have suffered. He was of the view all gains made in the new regime were inequitable in nature.
Dr Abid Suleri from SDPI, in his presentation, argued in favour of greater policy coherence so that the benefits of trade are fully exploited. He suggested the use of pro-poor growth policies rather than simple growth policies.
Shandana Gulzar from the National Institute of the WTO, presenting a paper by Akhtar Mehmood, pointed out gaps in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. In order to increase the competitiveness of Pak agricultural products as trade barriers are removed under the WTO, she proposed the development of rural markets and the development of export markets for agricultural products in Pakistan.
Dismissing trade as the only answer to poverty reduction, she emphasised the need for greater access to an improved justice system and governance reforms. She also stressed the need for checks on inflation and external shock-absorbing mechanisms, saying that domestic reforms needed to be undertaken side by side with policy reforms to properly reap the benefits of trade liberalisation.
The conference organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) has brought together renowned experts from around the world enriching the discourse on different aspects of sustainable development.
Dr Salman Shah had inaugurated the conference the other day. Dr Saba Gul Khattak raised certain burning questions in her address. She questioned that how the poor countries can assure their citizens' economic and social security and what could be the best way and mechanism to ensure that a just for equal social and economic uplift could be put in place.
She wanted to know that what could the social sector do for women who have nowhere to go due to the process of death and destruction in which they have no contribution. She raised many other questions such as was there a good globalisation from below and a bad globalization from above and can it be resisted especially from below and truly be termed as good globalization.
The conference revolves around six themes instead of one overarching central one discussing women's and gendered issues in several contexts trying to make sense of the international system, the opportunities and challenges presented by WTO, poverty and child labour, livelihoods and security as well as people's rights and issues of peace at the national, regional and international levels, she said.
She also launched SDPI's book based on the proceedings of their previous annual conference on sustainable development in 2004 titled, Troubled Times: Sustainable Development and Governance in the Age of Extremes, jointly published by SDPI and SAMA books.
The Chairman of SDPI's Board of Governors, Shamsul Mulk, gave an overview of the Institute's work and a brief historical background of the conference series.