8:27 AM Jan 24, 1996

WTO INFORMATION CHIEF DISRUPTS RUGGIERO INTERVIEW

Accra, Jan 23 (TWN/Yao Graham) -- There were extraordinary scenes of shouting and heated arguments here when Mr. David Woods, director of information of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) jumped in front of TV cameras and attempted to stop the recording of a Ghana TV interview with WTO Director-General, Mr. Renato Ruggiero, during Rujggiero's four-day official visit here.

The WTO head is on a four-nation African tour. Also on the trip is Mr. J.D. Belilse, executive director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva, which is jointly run by the WTO and UNCTAD.

Ten minutes into the recording of the 45 minute TV News Conference programme, on January 21, Woods who had been allowed to sit in the hotel hall where the interview was taking place, sprang in front of the cameras in an attempt to bring the proceedings to a close, claiming that the line of questioning by the three member panel of journalists was hostile and differed from the questions that he had been led to expect.

The WTO Information chief made his dramatic entrance when a journalist from the state-owned Daily Graphic newspaper, one of the three-member panel, followed up a line of questioning challenging Ruggerio's claims about what African countries stood to gain from the outcome of the Uruguay Round and cited a string of statistics published by the WTO itself, World Bank, OECD and other institutions.

"Listen, Mr. Ruggerio did not agree to come on this programme to have figures like these fired at him non-stop," Woods said.

From Woods' objections it appeared he expected the interview to be a public relations exercise for the WTO Director General.

"We agreed a certain number of questions to try to explain to Ghanaians what the World Trade Organization is. No question so far has made any attempt at this. Either we change the direction or we stop".

A heated exchange ensued between Woods on one hand and the producer of the programme and the interviewing journalists on the other.

The producer made clear to Mr. Woods that he had no right to try to censor or determine the content of the programme. The journalists declared themselves insulted that Woods claimed to know better than they, who work in the country, what a Ghanaian audience would be interested in.

Woods was however adamant. "Either you want to know what the WTO is doing or you don't, I have never done this but I will do it again if I feel it necessary because we are being badly treated", he defiantly declared.

Mr. Ruggerio on his part, though claiming that the questions asked were "wrong questions" based on "wrong facts", expressed a readiness to continue with the interview. After a few more minutes of argument and confusion, joined in by some officials of Ghana's Ministry of Trade ad Tourism, the recording continued.

Compared to earlier visits of heads of main multilateral institutions, Ruggerio's visit was surprisingly low key.

Unlike UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali and IMF Managing Director, Michel Camdessus, who have visited Ghana in recent months, the WTO chief did not meet President Jerry Rawlings.

The profile of Ruggerio's reception contrasted sharply with his treatment in other African countries. In neighbouring Cote d'Ivoire, from where he came to Ghana, the WTO boss was given head of state treatment and met President Konan Bedie.

The Ghana government is currently engaged in a frantic wooing of foreign investment and keeping on good terms with major international economic institutions and according to reports a Rawlings-Ruggerio meeting did not occur because of a protocol faux pas rather than because of deliberate snub by the Ghanaian side.

The significance of the Uruguay Round and the power of the WTO is only now being appreciated by a minority of Ghanaians and are still little understood and appreciated by even fairly high ranking officials.

Last year the country's Parliament ratified the outcome of the negotiations without a debate.

During his stay here, Ruggerio met with some Ministers, notably the Minister of Trade and Tourism, and representatives of the private sector.

Speaking to journalists after one of his meeting on Saturday, January 20, Mr. Ruggerio praised the Ghana government for its liberalizing policies. He singled out for praise a recent law which expanded the areas of economic activity in which there could be full foreign ownership. He said that the neo-liberal policies of the Rawlings government hold out opportunities for expanded trade and reduced dependence.

For the past decade Ghana has been touted as a model for the success of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) in Africa though in recent years serious cracks have appeared in the edifice.

World Bank officials have been unhappy about the resurgence of inflation which was running at 70% at the end of 1995.

The year was marked by widespread protests over low public sector wages and the high cost of living. In May, four persons were killed when government supporters attacked a peaceful anti-government protest in the national capital, Accra.

On Africa's situation Mr. Ruggerio declared that the continent's marginalisation is over. It is an issue of the past and not of the present and the future" he claimed.

Figures from several sources however show otherwise.

Last year Africa received only 5% of global foreign direct investment and the overwhelming bulk of capital inflows into the continent are from bilateral and multilateral sources.

The TV interview is scheduled to be shown early next month. Ghana's TV is currently too busy because of the full televising of the ongoing Africa nations soccer championship being held in South Africa.

In the interview, Ruggerio repeated his claims about the opportunities that the Uruguay Round results hold out for Africa, and explained that his trip was to hold consultations about how to enhance these opportunities.

On the EU push for an investment treaty within the WTO Mr. Ruggerio said there was broad consensus on the need for and value of such a treaty, "except for the objections of a few big developing countries". Pressed on what the objections were he claimed not to remember the details, but added: "some things about sovereignty".

India and Malaysia are among those who object to WTO enforced investment treaty, giving foreign investors a right to invest on par with domestic capital, because of the fundamental threat it poses to the economic and political sovereignty of countries, especially in the South.