As the countdown to the Hong Kong ministerial begins, all eyes are trained at its outcome. To be able to comprehend the issues and their intricacies, it is essential to understand the twists and turns marking the evolution of the GATT-WTO system and the forces that shaped it through the last six decades, asserts.

Ten years of WTO have made it amply clear that developed countries have not honouredtheir own stated commitments while predicted gains to the developing countries haveproved to be empty promises. A consensus being forced is not only biased, but alsothreatening lives and livelihoods of millions in the third world. As the negotiations enterthe most dangerous phase in Hong Kong, civil socieity groups across the globe shouldjoin hands to derail the Ministerial and cripple the WTO.

Developing countries are in a vulnerable position. Food security and livelihoods ofmillions of farm families are being mortgaged at the altar of international trade anddevelopment.

The developing and the least developed countries have paid a huge price for believing in the promises of market access through the Agreement on Agriculture under WTO,

Two decades of globalisation have made it clear that foreign investors are nosubstitute for domestic firms, a lesson that developing countries don’t seem tohave imbibed. Instead, they seem to be accepting the intensification andinstitutionalisation of deindustrialisation, which the developed countries areseeking to achieve. Professor C P Chandrasekharfeels that the NAMAnegotiations are essentially a way of institutionalising through an internationalagreement the process of deindustrialisation in the developing world

TRIPS is another example of the effrontery practiced by developed countries. Its primary aim is to protect the so-called intellectual property assets of the developed world and facilitate transfer of revenue in the form of royalties and license fees from developing to developed countries.

GATS attempts to integrate services policiesacross the world by operationalising the basicprinciples of neo-liberal trade liberalisation.Clauses such as Market Access and NationalTreatment are the greatest challenges forpublic policy. No wonder people’s movementsacross the developing world have one clarioncall “Stop GATS”.

"GATT is a calamity if the Constitution of India has validity”, said Justice Krishna Iyer. While endorsing this view, Sanjay Parikh says that the lack of ratification by Parliament on decisions taken by India at WTO could have far reaching effects on Indian legislationz

The struggle against capitalist globalisation has taken on various hues overthe last decade. People are no longer willing to accept the bullying tactics ofthe developed countries. At the Hong Kong Ministerial there will be NGOs,experts, journalists and anti-globalisation marchers to demand efficientimplementation of WTO and neo-liberal reforms.

The government of India has not lived up to its potential as the voice of the third world at WTO, but it can still redeem itself by ensuring that nothing in the agreement prevents developing countries from pursuing food security, poverty eradication, social justice and equity.

Illegal bulk subsidies provided by the rich nations to their farmers are not only destroying competitiveness of agricultural exports from the developing nations, but also turning poor countries into dumping grounds for their surplus production. The need of the hour is to oppose such unfair policies tooth and nail.

Instead of resisting forces of globalisation, the official Left in Indiais effectively compromising public good and pushing global tradeinterests in the country.