MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina blasts WTO for its biased and tendentious reports on world trade

WTO Director General Pascal Lamy in the “suspicious list” of Cristina Fernandez

The Argentine government, together with Brazil, India and South Africa questioned the inclination, almost bias, of some trade measures elaborated by the World Trade Organization Director General.

The presentation was made this week, 18 July during a meeting of the WTO panel that examines Trade Policies, according to an official Thursday release from the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

Referring to the issue Argentine president Cristina Fernandez said that the WTO “seems to have different criteria: one to measure that of emerging countries and their products and another for developed countries and their products”.

“The WTO does not consider trade barriers all the phytosanitary impediments implemented by the European Union”, said the Argentine president who nevertheless expressed satisfaction because the claim was shared by members from BRIC:

The president made the statements during a ceremony at Government House where she referred to mining projects and infrastructure.

Argentine criticism focused in the reports that do not include references to the “generous government programs of aid, subsidies and stimuli packages implemented by the developed countries to address the crisis and their negative impact on international trade”.

Likewise these reports “tend to minimize the severe distortions in agriculture markets because of the long established protectionist policies from developed countries” added the report from the Argentine Foreign ministry.

The WTO reports are also lagging on the impacts from the “growing proliferation of sanitary, phytosanitary and technical measures without the sufficient scientific and technical support and which harm the farmers from developing countries”

The Argentine government requests that “WTO reports on the current international trade situation be more balanced and less biased and tendentious in favour of developed countries as has been the case so far”.

Finally the Argentine release says that such is the case that in the last Report on World Trade from WTO, Director General Pascal Lamy acknowledges that non tariff barriers could be used for protectionist purposes and warned, as Argentina has been pointing out, that “it’s good time for the WTO to closer monitor those non tariff barriers”.