The Cancun World Trade Talks essays

The Cancun World Trade Talks essays The rich get richer while the poor get poorer and the rest of the world sits by and watches without affliction. Over three-quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas and are heavily dependant on agriculture. Over $300 billion is spent annually by richer nations supporting their own farmers, which is six times the amount which is spent on foreign aid. The Doha round was fighting to protect and come to the aid of second and third world nations by forging compromise between nations and developing countries. Shortly after the terrorist attacks of September 11, the Doha round of trade talks began and was ambitious. This was an apparent achievement after the WTO's 1999 meeting in Seattle, when efforts to accomplish the same goals collapsed. The Doha round indicated a pro-poor message and was insistent on concentrating on developing and the development of second and third world nations. The Doha agenda's main focus was to help the poor but was also aimed to cut barriers in protectionist economic sectors including agriculture and services, to establish new rules in regards to globalization in areas such as investment and competition policy. Since November of 2001, little progress has been made in regards to multilateral trade talks. Unmet deadlines and without compromise, talks of freeing farm trade and lowering tariffs on industrial goods are threatened. September 10th was the date for a routine meeting including trade ministers representing the 146 countries of the World Trade Organization. In Cancun, this meeting is a fraught attempt to sustain trade talks. It is unknown how far countries are willing to reduce trade barriers to benefit the poorer countries. Promises were made-that richer countries like the U.S, would open their markets in areas including farm goods and textiles, which are of great importance to poor countries. Financial aid, technical assistance and "special and differential" treatment were also promised. Failur...