SUNS4370 Tuesday 9 February 1999

Trade: G-15 goes in search of solutions



Montego Bay, Feb 5 (IPS/Vivienne Siva) -- When heads of state of the Group of 15 (G-15) developing nations meet Wednesday in Jamaica's northcoast tourism resort of Montego Bay, they will be focusing their
attention on ways to boost trade and to deal with the effects of globalisation on some of these small economies.

An indication of the likely direction of the discussion which runs from Feb. 10-12 came on Thursday when the G-15 Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) sat down for their meeting.

The FCCI was established at the G-15 meeting in Cairo last year.

Secretary-General of the FCCI Mohammed Farid Khamis says the group wants to advocate an end to trade barriers among the 17 developing countries.

He says these barriers are a major hurdle to increasing trade among the group which includes countries from Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

"It's a big problem for us, " says Farid Khamis.

Intra-regional trade among member countries of the G-15 has grown by 16% since the group's inception in 1989. Trade within the group moved from $21.7 billion in 1989 to $64.8 billion in 1996. Farid Khamis says
the goal is to move this trade from the current seven percent to 25 percent.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) among G-15 countries amounts to $5.2 trillion. Per Capita income now stands at $4,574. Malaysia has the highest at $9,800 and Nigeria and Kenya recording the lowest at $1,300.

With several G-15 countries reeling from the effects of monetary and economic crises affecting several countries, particularly in Asia and more recently Brazil, globalisation, the relationship between developing countries, and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), are also expected to dominate next week's agenda.

"No one in our corner of the globe should have any doubt about the fact that current developments in the international environment are posing an increasing threat to the economic security of developing countries,
the broader grouping to which the G-15 belongs," says Jamaica's Prime Minister, Percival Patterson.

"...We, as summit leaders will occupy ourselves with the financial state of member countries and the world. The prospect for existence of a financial crisis anywhere threatens all of us everywhere - it spreads like a contagion," adds Patterson.

Senior director in the Jamaican government's Policy Support Unit, Richard Pierce says the G-15 would like to come up with a common position for developing countries to take to the WTO on the effects of globalisation.

"One of the things the G-15 is doing now, is bringing to the attention of the WTO the quandary faced by countries like ourselves (Jamaica) and how do we address the problems," he says.

Patterson says there is concern about new WTO rules regarding the conduct of international trade, the erosion of preferential trading arrangements and the growing trend toward regionalisation, for instance, the strengthening of the European Union and NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) which will result in reduced access to these markets.

The FCCI has already prepared a special report on globalisation entitled " National Interest of Developing Countries amid Contemporary Global Economic Trends."

The report examines eight critical issues including imbalance in economic alliances, the relationship between stability, peace and globalisation and the tendency of industrialised countries to dishonour their commitment to developing countries.

Jamaican trade consultant Peter King says these issues are crucial for the survival of developing countries.
He says the WTO's objective of greater trade for more countries has not materialised. "What we have seen is more trade for fewer countries and regrettably small countries are not counted among those few," he says.

It is for this reason that the G-15 serves as a catalyst to enhance greater South-South cooperation as small countries acting alone are doomed to be placed at the back of the line in world trade, says Patterson.