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WTO regime: NGOs to send proposals to ministry by 10th
ISLAMABAD (January 07 2003) : The Steering Committee of five non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Monday decided to send the Ministry of Food and Agriculture a set of proposals by January 10 on how to protect interest of the farmers once the WTO regime is implemented.
"The committee will hold three meetings on consecutive days from Tuesday January 7, to give final shape to the proposals," said a source privy to a lengthy meeting here.
He told Business Recorder that the NGOs highly valued the government gesture to solicit views of all the stakeholders before giving final shape to the report, to be sent to Geneva.
During the meetings, he said major focus will be to ensure domestic support for the farmers' community, subsidies on export of commodities and market access.
The meeting emphasised that the prime focus should be to safeguard the interests of small farmers.
"Laws should be formulated to protect farmers' livelihood and also food security must be ensured," he said.
The Steering Committee criticised the rich countries in the West for dolling out heavy subsidies to their agriculture while pressuring the underdeveloped and developing countries to withdraw the same.
"The government will have to see how to protect the interests of the farmer's community and get rid of discriminatory laws, that could target the developing nations," he maintained.
Representatives from Sustainable Development Policy Institute, The Network for Consumers' Protection, Sungi, Action Aid and Sustainable Agriculture Action Group participated in the meeting.
The meeting expressed concern that the agriculture sector, mainly based on small farmers could face a crisis-like situation if their interests are not duly protected after WTO regime comes into force.
Those who attended the meeting included Dr Shahid Zia, Syed Qasim Ali Shah, Tahir Husnain, Roshan Malik, Ahsan Ahmed, Aftab Alam and Khadim Hussain. The government plans to send proposals during the last week of January to the WTO Committee in Geneva.
Courtesy Business Recorder
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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