Rice farmers protesting against WTO

Rice farmers in Asia are protesting against trade talks in Hong Kong. Read more here.

Quote:

In Korea and Japan, rise approaches a sacred grain, part of 5,000 years of culture entwined with religious practices.

Pascal Lamy, the WTO director general, should appreciate this. Last year when he was the European commissioner for trade, he spoke about the importance of agriculture. "Agriculture is not like coal, or widgets. It concerns the protection, preservation and promotion of a traditional rural way of life," he said.

In Asia, the annual events of planting, transplanting and harvesting rice were a community activity marking the lunar calendar and reinforcing ties between families and harmony between humans.

Consumers International is noting that the text on the table in Hong Kong does very little to improve trade for consumers in the South or choice for consumers in the North: "Important areas of the text remain anti-consumer, anti-development and anti-free trade. The few signs of progress within the text will mean nothing if the bigger issues, such as firm dates and developed world market access are not addressed."

Read CI's comments here

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