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More than 30 heads of state and representatives from South America and the Arab world are attending the first summit between the regions in Brazil. Brazil turned down a request by the US government for observer status, and Arab diplomats said Washington put pressure on them not to attend.

Brazil is pushing for what it calls South-South co-operation, whereby developing countries might adopt a common approach to global challenges, such as trade negotiations.

"We're seeking fair and just trade free of subsidies imposed by rich countries that ensures that poor countries receive the benefits of globalisation," Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva said.

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an example of south-south agricultural co-operation:

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South-South Cooperation is about allowing countries to benefit from the experience and expertise of other more advanced developing countries. This is done by providing experts for two or three years to work in the implementation of the SPFS in the recipient countries. The experts work directly with farmers in rural communities involved in the SPFS.

By September 2003 28 agreements have been signed between countries namely Senegal-Viet Nam, Ethiopia-China, Eritrea-India, Niger-Morocco, Burkina Faso-Morocco, Benin-Viet Nam, Mauritania-China, Tanzania-Egypt, Gambia-Bangladesh, Madagascar-Viet Nam, Bangladesh-China, Mali-China, Equatorial Guinea-Cuba, Cape Verde-Cuba, Ghana-China, Cameroon-Egypt, Swaziland-Pakistan, Haiti-Cuba , Mozambique-India, Venezuela-Cuba, Lesotho-India, Lao PDR-Viet Nam, Congo Republic-Viet Nam, Guinea Bissau-Cuba, Malawi-Myanmar, Central African Republic-Morocco, Papua New Guinea-Philippines, and Nigeria-China

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john madeley from 2003:

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South-south cooperation has been around for some time, however, but it has so far failed to dent the North’s power in international economic affairs. Will the new alliances fare better? Are we now seeing South-South cooperation with teeth?

The Cancun alliances look impressive. Foremost is the G23 which includes all the big developing countries, notably Brazil, China, India and South Africa. At the start of the Cancun meeting, as the G20, it submitted a key paper on agriculture which calls for an end to export subsidies for farmers that encourage dumping, and for a cap on direct payments, within a specific time frame. The paper shook the complacency of the US and EU. By the end of the meeting, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria had joined the group and the G23 represented well over half the world’s population.

Thirty-three developing countries, including six members of the G23, formed an alliance which called on the meeting to agree to a mechanism that would allow developing countries to designate products of special interest – to poorer farmers, for example – that would be exempt from WTO rules. And this could safeguard the livelihoods of millions of people, believes the G33.

Midway through the meeting, the US president telephoned the leaders of Brazil, India, Colombia, Pakistan, Thailand and South Africa to ask them to leave the G23. The hint was of improved bilateral trade deals. All said no. But the pressure will intensify. The G23 countries have different interests which the US will exploit. The US may try to punish them. What might embolden the alliances is public opinion.

If there is a new factor today, which was not present in the 1960s and 70s, it’s the strength of social movements in developing countries. There is now a much higher level of awareness and more campaigning on the issues, stimulated by the effects of WTO, World Bank and IMF policies on people’s lives. When trade rules lead to Californian rice being dumped in South Korea to sell for a third of the price of local rice, and when US soya imports into Indonesia cause nearly a million farmers to go to the wall, people will back their governments when they make a stand at the WTO.

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[ 11 May 2005: Message edited by: Willowdale Wizard ]