WTO dashes hopes of quota extension

JOY ORLEK THE WORLD Trade Organisation has dashed hopes of an extension to the international textile quota system that terminates at the end of this year. Director of the WTO’s textile division, Cheidu Osakwe, announced last week in Washington that there would be no stay of execution. Earlier this year 14 sub-Saharan countries joined the US, Turkey and Mexico in signing a US-led petition advocating an extension of the deadline to 2008. This in the face of increasing concern among developed and developing countries over China’s dominance. The 1994 Uruguay round world trade agreement gave rich countries 10 years to phase out all textile quotas as part of a finely balanced deal that required all WTO members to make concessions in different areas, according to the Financial Times. A study conducted by the American Textile Manufacturers’ Institute estimates that 30 million jobs could be lost to China, 650 000 of those in the US manufacturing industry. South African textile manufacturers fear that the dropping of quotas could seriously compromise their export efforts under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act which allows duty-free access for certain goods into the US.