WTO came into existence with great fanfare in 1995 and the
charter was signed by the representatives of governments
attending the conference in Casablanca. The pride of
performance for the third world countries/leaders was only to
rub shoulders with the developed countries on the platform of
WTO, great stress is being laid on the false notions
promulgated by the stalwarts of North that WTO is meant to
redress the economic exploitation of the South. But in
practice its the other way round and the South is the
proverbial land at the mercy of the Wolf.
The North wins the Head and the South looses the Tail, it
is under this scenario that the WTO works inspite of the
so-called charter of the equality and fraternity for the
economic growth of the business community irrespective of their
location and political status. As a matter of fact WTO is
nothing but an extension of United Nation Organisation ( UNO )
where might is right and not right is might. The Headquarter
of WTO is in Geneva but the disputes which come under its
purview are settled in Paris under the ICC rules, The case
in example is of an exporter in Pakistan whose buyer in USA
committed fraud and the matter had to be referred to a Court
in USA where the lawyers fleeced the exporter from Pakistan
who could only save his skin, in short this is the function
of WTO who has got no authority or sanction of law to
redress injustice done to the third world supplier.
Commercial awakening in the west starts with General Agreement
on Trade and Tariff (GATT) in 1947 which is followed by
successive Uruguay rounds and has finally landed in emergence
of WTO, the ostensible purpose of formation of WTO was to
provide an even handed administration to trade and tariff to
business community in North, South, East and the West
irrespective of their status of development and thus what
actually the WTO has done is " Larraa Diya Hai Mamooley Ko
Shahbaz Sey " meaning thereby that ' they have pitted the
Mangoose against the Eagle. ' and put the least developed
countries, the developing countries, and the developed countries
alongwith the highly industrialised and technologically advance
countries members of G-7 on an equal footing making thereby
the weak countries still weaker and strong countries still
stronger. WTO is as a matter of fact a trade organisation
for the west and not for the world, it does not look after
or take into consideration the interest of third world
countries in accordance with the development status.
It is the essential requirement for the interest of the least
developed countries, the developing countries and the third
world countries in general that the charter of WTO be amended
suitably to enforce equality and fraternity amongst the members
in phases. Taking into consideration the subservient position
of WTO to western interest, it is time now that the third
world countries should join hands to form a powerful regional
economic bloc.
Another instrument being introduced under the suzerainty of WTO
is the ISO's which controls the methodology of production of
goods and services and not the standard of production, this
in itself defeats the purpose and the nomenclature of an
International Standard Organisation ( ISO ) sponsored by the
European Community. The WTO, the buyer should only be
concerned with the standard of the material produced and
delivered to the buyer and not the method and the
registration of the details of the methodology of production
which only enhances the product cost. The so-called ISO does
not by any stretch of imagination ensures the standard of the
product but surely does eliminates a very large number of
medium and small size manufacturers and opens the third world
markets to registered patent holders of the west to sell
their goods in these markets under a monopoly of patent
rights protection laws and make hey while the sun of WTO
shines and let the medium and small entrepreneur of third
world be buried in grave for eternal peace.
The ISO certification besides being a source of standardisation
for the European markets is also a source of corruption in
the local market which is definately not the purpose of ISO,
the large firms who have obtained ISO certification are
exploiting this as a brand logo for their products in the
local market thus out classing those firms who are not
fortunate enough to obtain the ISO certification by paying
huge sums of money in foreign exchange.
Its a pity and a slur for Pakistan and India the producers
of Basmati rice that the patent rights for the sale of this
commodity is now held by an American rice merchant, he has
now got the monopoly to sell Basmati rice to the producers
of Basmati rice, a unique example of carrying coals to New
Castle.
It is time now that Afro-Asian countries should get rid of
the influence of the west economically, culturally, financially,
commercially, productionally, politically and militarily. It is
a matter of record that beggars thy neighbor has been, is,
and will be in future the policy of western fund managers.
The methodology of IMF and World Bank is to make the
Government rich and the people poor, the net result of all
this is that the Government Functionaries reap the harvest and
they migrate to the safe heavens in the west. Let us have a
hamlet of our own in this vast global village and create our
own UNO, our own WTO and if possible and it is possible our
own common currency and create a safe heaven of our own
also. This all is not a tall claim but what we actually
need is selfless and desireless leadership to lead this part
of the World.
Karachi. 28th March, 98.
Ali Ashraf Kahn
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