Here is why i have agreed with President Museveni and this will also tie in with Tanzania's decision to pull out of COMESA. Firstly the classification "third world" is a misnomer. For example China, South Korea, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and South Africa are classified as third world countries along with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Lesotho and Kenya. Mean while United States of America has a US$3.3 Billion dollar trade deficit with "third world" China, however "third world" Uganda has (as you stated) a US$20 Million dollar trade deficit with the United States, it is obvious from this example that it would be very difficult in any forum in which third world issues are being discussed, and where Uganda and China sit as equals i.e. "third world" countries, for Uganda's unique situation and economic needs to get catered for, and normally at the end of such meetings communiques are realesed stating what and what has been done for third world countries and what they stand to benefit. The reality is usually, that the upper echelon of the third world pack benefit.
Secondly in some other third world fora, there is usually more talk than action and this brings me to the Tanzania/COMESA issue. According to President Mkapa, Tanzania pulled out of COMESA because he felt COMESA was too much of a talk shop "We have a propensity for starting and joining all kinds of organisations," he said. "The result was that we were spending more time in conferences than implementing the decisions.". Those are President Mkapa's own words. Although it has been said that the main reason was because the COMESA region is soon to be a trade free zone which means it will be a tarrif-free zone and according to analysts Tanzania was earning a lot from import duties, than exports so...you put 2 and 2 together. Back to your question, the fore mentioned reasons, plus the post-cold war internationa political environment which makes easier for countries to freely associate, calls for a more pragmatic approach to trade relations.
I think President Museveni is aware of this and is trying not to put all Uganda's eggs in one basket. In other wards sometimes it may be in Uganda's interest to have bileteral trade arrangments with some countries, other times it may be in Uganda's interest to be part of a multilateral effort. Other countries have also opted for bileteral arrangements, a case in point is Tanzania. Another good example is OPEC, sometimes some countries decide unilaterally to go above or below their quotas, for their national interest. I have no problem with that, i don't think Uganda should be forced to sink or swim with particular organizations.
As for Agriculture, well it is obviously that, that should be the foundation of a strong economy. If you go through the Presidents speech in America, along with other public speeches he has made on Uganda's economic growth, he has always stressed need to diversify the economy i.e. to move it from strictly agriculture based to manufacturing and ultimately to industrial (or a good mix of everything) and so far he has been making some progress in that direction. The AGOA venture was initiated in that spirit. Overall i think the President is leading Uganda on the right path. But it is said that you can lead a horse to a stream but you can't force to drink. Cheers.
From: "J Ssemakula" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: ugnet_: Museveni in America Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 21:20:08 +0000
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--- Begin Message -------Original Message Follows---- From: "emmanuel musaazi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ugnet_: Museveni in America Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2003 15:55:04 -0500 UGANDA: President pleads with developed nations to end protectionism KAMPALA, 4 Nov 2003 (IRIN) - Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, on Monday made an impassioned plea to governments in the developed world to end protectionist trade policies which prevent poor countries from competing effectively in the global marketplace. He was speaking at the 53rd plenary meeting of the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, as part of a five-day official working visit aimed at promoting business and tourism opportunities for Uganda. A presidential press release quoted Museveni as saying that desperate poverty and aid dependence would continue in Africa “as long as the United States, European Union and Japan continue practising protectionism by closing their markets to products from Africa”. He mentioned punitively high tariffs as one feature of world trade that would need to be fixed if developing countries are to have any chance of lifting themselves out of poverty. President Museveni criticised efforts made so far to develop African economies through exporting cash crops and other raw materials. “There is no way an economy can develop that is solely dependent on agricultural and mineral exports in their raw form”, he said, “The real solution to Africa’s persistent poverty lies in the diversification of the economies of the developing countries of Africa”. He gave the example of coffee and noted that the total coffee business in the world stood at US $71billion, but only US $500 million went to producing countries. Last September, World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in the Mexican resort town of Cancun collapsed after the developing countries walked out. They complained that the United States, Japan and the EU were being insincere and one-sided in their efforts to “open up markets”. They said trade tariffs on finished products from the developing world were too high. They also complained that massive agricultural subsidies from the US and EU governments gave big agri-businesses in the developed world an unfair advantage over third world farmers. _________________________________________________________________ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963 -------------------------------------------- This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ugMw. Musaazi:
Perhaps I am missing something here, but it seems to me that Mu7 -- who is said to have sabotaged Third world countries' trade position vs USA at the recent WTO talks in Mexico -- is engaged in an exercise in which gazelles are asking to be fair by not eating the gazelle's off-spring.
Even more puzzling, Mu7 seems to be barking the wrong tree. If you refer to the trade statististics I posted yesterday (subject: something like 'Uganda is a donor'), you'll note that Uganda's trade deficit with the US is of the order of US $20million, while Uganda's trade deficit with COMESA countries (in Africa) is of the order of US $450million annually.
Isn't Mu7 being penny-wise, but pound-foolish in this case?
Does Uganda have a trade policy and if so where is it and what does it say? Do any of the political parties have a trade policy and if so where is it and what does it say? If they do not have such in place, when do they hope to get them? (They certainly have had lots of time to do it!!!) How different are the trade positions of the political-parties are from that of Mu7?
It seems to me that Uganda does not have a chance in this millenium if her strategy is to continue relying on agricultural produce rather than building up her manufacturing sector.
ssemakula
btw: does anyone know why Tz pulled out of COMESA?
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