& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

The Uruguay Round of GATT Talks Remained Almost Unnoticed in Bangladesh

by Munim Kumar Barai
THE Uruguay Round ot GATT talks ultimately ended at Marrakesh.
Morocco in mid-April this year when over 120 nations signed the GATT agreements alter seven years of gruelling debate and negotiations. During the Round's negotiations and after signing the aecord. a fair amount of dissenl was ex pressed In different capitals of the world. Violent protests also broke out in India and France where farmers blocked all major roads for few days Irrespective of the countries they belong to. the Intelll gentsla also became divided over the benefits and merits of the GATT accord. While the supporters of free trade afgue that the accord will enhance the world trade by billions of dollars in the coming years, the opponents see a growing global income inequality between the rich and the poor. The GATT agreements, according to them, will unleash an era of transna tlonal corporate hegemony, a new facade of Imperialism.
When thip is the outside scenario, the Uruguay Round has remained mostly an unnoticed affair in Bangladesh Neither the parliament nor the press has shown due responsibility- to take the country into confidence about the likely fallouts of the GATT agreements. Our ’self-congratulatory' intelligentsia have also failed to live up to the occasion.
Parliament's Role
In a country with the "Parliamentary form of Government".
the parliament Is the highest elected body and the majority party Is mandated to govern the country for a certain period In the parliament, from day to day affairs to long term matters are debated or discussed, laws are passed and enacted Active participation of the members of the party in power and those who are In the opposition Is needed for healthy democracy. As a representative body of the people of the country, a parliament must reflect the interest and welfare of the majority people and not of any particular class or group. An Is sue. even if It occurs outside the boundary of a sovereign state, that has transnational Implications can also prominently figure In the parliamentary dis cusslons. The developments relating to GATTs 8th Round and the subsequent Acceptance of the agreements are matters of that nature. That is why GATT was a lively issue for a long time in the parliaments of most of the democracies in the world.
Being a signatory to the accord. Bangladesh Government had much to do to inform the people about what she expected to gain from the agreements. The Parliament could have been the best place to do so. But every informed person knows what our honourable MPs have
done so far with this issue The Round never became a serious Issue In the Parliament either As Bangladesh has already signed the agreements at Marrakesh, so the ratification of the agreements by the Parlla ment is now a mere formality Anyway, a democracy with a Parliament should have shown a greater sensitivity to the GATT Issue
. Intelligentsia and Press
When any government or Its parliament fails to perform its responsibility to the people on some vital issues in a desired manner. It becomes a solemn duty of the intelligentsia of a country to take up the matter on their own shoulders. Nobody vest this duty on them, but they only act as an abeyance to their internal urge In Bangladesh where the electronic media be comes a ruling party property, the press should play a benevolent. role to encourage the Intelligentsia to come out with their opinions and Ideas on such Issues. The GATT agree ment Is such an issue which will'over a period of time affect the manufacturers, traders, farmers, labourers by one way or other. Though it Is true that being a poor developing country. Bangladesh has very in significant or no leverage to In-
fluence the courses of action of GATT even then making the countrymen aware of the impil cations of the GATT agreements was necessary. The tntelli gentsla perhaps could have done a better Job had they come out appropriately
Implications
It would be a bit amateurish to attempt to talk about the Im plications of GATT agreements for Bangladesh in a very short space Again., there are many who may argue that as Bangladesh has been bracketed as a least developed country In the agreement, she would be least affected by the provisions of the agreements. But this Is not a right impression because, Bangladesh cannot remain Immune to the changes that will sweep the world trade scenario due to the GATT agreements The agreements on goods, ser vices and intellectual property right (IPR) protection are the three 'plllers of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the replacement of GATT. The related issues like tariffs, non-tariff barriers (NTBs). subsidies and dispute settlement mechanisms have also been widely dealt with In the agreements.
Now let us take the case of agriculture. As per the provisions of the agreement, devel-
oped and developing countries have to cut agriculture subsidies by 21 per cent and 13 per cent respectively, while subsides exports are to be cut by 36 per cent. As a result of these cuts, world agriculture price is likely to increase by 10 per cent or more availability may also be curtailed. Though Bangladesh has achieved near self suffl ciency in food production, it is still a defic ient country if she can turn herself into a food-surpius country then exporting food under GATT provisions would fetch her extra forex But tf the Increase of population outpaces the growth of agricul ture at some stage, then she will have to Import food with more price. Again, being a natu ral calamity prone country. It can face bad harvest year 1st due to excessive rain, flood or even drought
It is now estimated that wtthin coming two to three decades. 60 to 70 per cent of the global economy would rest on biotechnology Its application would be pervasive In pharmaceuticals. chemicals and other Industrial and agricultural areas. By enlarging the domain of Patent and IPRs under the GATT agreement, the .developed world has ensured their permanent domination over the developing nations tn
the areas of high technology Bangladesh has no way to escape (Ms Live saving drugs health care, agricultural seeds may be costlier to the future. Moreover, out of eight Indus trial goods viz. pharmaceuticals construction equipment medical tty rtf* nt steel, beer furniture, farm equipment woodpaper and toys on which the developed countries have agreed to reduce import tariff by 38 per cent. Bangladesh can benefit from pharmaceutical exports alone New arrange ment in apparels and garments could only fetch her extra rev enue
Conclusion
Projecting future is always a tricky exercise So talking about the future implications of the GATT agreements for Bangla desh is not an easy task either But one could have reasonably expected that the government, the press and tntelllgentia of Bangladesh played a far responsible role to highlight the pros and cons of the GATT a&eements and what they mean fqr Bangladesh Rema ining unaware, they will not be able to explore and reap from new opportunities even If they are there in the GATT accord. It is unfortunate that many unimportant issues get so prominence frequently In Bangladesh. Much time and en ergy of the nation is lost for them while many vital and Strategic issues like GATT agreements and others remain rather neglected, unnoticed and untouched sometimes, maybe, intentionally.