Sugar protocol challenge case
Rohee makes plea for differential treatment
Stabroek News
April 8, 2004
The World Trade Organi-sation (WTO) is being called upon to honour its commitment to special and differential treatment for small economies as the sugar challenge case brought by Brazil, Australia and Thailand continued before the dispute panel. The case began on April 1.
According to the Govern-ment Information Agency (GINA), Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation, Clement Rohee is in Geneva representing Guyana's interest and he addressed the panel on the opening day of the case, stressing that the outcome has the severest of consequences for this country.
He noted that sugar contributes 20% of Guyana's Gross Domestic Product, and pointed out that the industry depends on maintaining the assured access at remunerative prices which it enjoys in the European Union (EU) through the Sugar Protocol.
Rohee argued, GINA reported, that the EU market assures access and guaranteed prices for nearly 60% of Guyana's sugar production and to attack the EU sugar regime would put in jeopardy the Sugar Protocol which sustains the country's sugar industry.
The Minister stressed two points which he said should carry particular weight in the resolution of the dispute, GINA said. He told the panel that the Sugar Protocol as an essential part of the EU sugar regime has turned out to be a perfect, practical example of the principle of affording special and differential treatment to small and vulnerable economies like Guyana's.
GINA quoted Rohee as saying: "I wish to recall the principle of specifically and deliberately utilising differential treatment in trade in order to assist in the development of vulnerable economies, and to enable them to attain their fullest potential, has become an integral aspect of the WTO ethos." He said further that "this emphasis on development has indeed been a centre piece on the deliberations in the WTO and pervades the Doha declarations."
The second point Rohee emphasised alluded to the fact that in the challenge, Guyana has infinitely more to lose than Brazil, Australia and Thailand have to gain, GINA reported.
He noted that Guyana's exports amount to US$500M and sugar accounts for over a quarter.
"Guyana has a population of 750,000 people, 600,000 of whom live on our heavily populated coastal areas with the sugar industry directly employing 20,000 and supporting a further 10,000 indirectly," the Minister told the panel. He also observed that in the Guyana context "an average of four people depend on one employed person, (therefore) no less than 150,000 people depend on the sugar industry for their livelihood."
While stressing the importance of the sugar regime to Guyana's economic stability, he also outlined the country's plan for diversification. Rohee urged the panel to look not only at the legal arguments but to place equal weight on the moral ramifications of the issue. He warned that a ruling in favour of the challenging nations could dismantle Guyana's sugar industry, which would lead to the disruption of the country's entire economy.