Where it all happens: the Hong Kong conferenmce and exhibition centre. (Photo: QPSW)


Monday 12 December: The week ahead

Although the formal proceedings have yet to start, few people on Hong Kong Island will be able to miss the fact that the WTO’s sixth ministerial conference is in town. Today the city’s famous Star Ferry, which travels between the island and the mainland, took its last journey until next Monday. The Star terminal is situated just next to the conference centre and part of its route is through the ‘no sail zone’ that will be enforced around the conference centre, which is situated on a sort of peninsula jutting out into Hong Kong harbour.

The ferry is not the only business that will be closing this coming week. At least one department store near the conference centre has signs up announcing that it will be closing tonight and a nearby commercial centre has taken the precaution of erecting protective hoardings around its perimeter. Litterbins on the underground system have been taped up ‘temporarily’ for ‘security reasons’ and signs warn people not to congregate in the entrance halls of the stations nearest to the conference centre.

Security is clearly going to be a theme for the week and with the possibility of 149 trade ministers in the same place at the same time, nobody is taking any chances. We are told that before the formal opening of the conference tomorrow the conference centre will have undergone a security sweep and that all delegates can expect to be greeted by a number of checks before being let in. As I left the centre tonight, entire sections of street were being screened off with steel meshing reaching several storeys high– presumably to demark what will tomorrow become a restricted zone and perhaps to protect the shop fronts behind it from bricks or other projectiles.

There is considerable speculation about how the protests planned throughout the week will be handled by both protestors and the authorities. According to the press all police leave had been cancelled and there are rumours that this is also the case for hospital staff in anticipation of large numbers of casualties. The Hong Kong People’s Alliance organised a first, relatively small demonstration yesterday. This seemed well organised and had an almost festival-like atmosphere. Although there was a large police presence it was definitely a relaxed one. Officers appeared to be wearing their normal uniforms and were mostly standing back watching the proceedings alongside the many spectators who had taken time out from their daily business to watch the carnival go past. The hope of course, is that other demonstrations pass in the same positive and peaceful manner. As I look out of my hotel window tonight towards the park that is acting as a base for the Alliance’s activities, a huge stage has been erected and preparations are being made for another rally and parade to coincide with the conference’s opening plenary session tomorrow.

So what can we expect from the rest of this week?

It is clear that in the last few weeks a number of governments have been downplaying the likelihood of a successful outcome to this conference. The meeting is, according to the Doha ‘development’ round’s timetable, supposed to result in a framework agreement that would go two thirds of the way towards completing the round. However major disagreements still exist, and the talk has been less of creating the framework than of stocktaking in order to reach a deal in the spring of next year. The extent to which this pessimism is an accurate reflection of the situation, political posturing, or simply an attempt to downplay expectations in an attempt to avoid negative press about whatever agreement does emerge will, we hope, become clear over the next few days. [for a fuller explanation of the issues under discussion see QPSW's occasional briefing on the talks at http://www.quaker.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=91601 ]

Over this week we will see the formal process of every member country delegation publicly delivering a speech about their expectations and hopes for the round. The real work will however be happening behind the scenes where diplomats will be working to agree the wording of a ministerial text setting out how they intend to take negotiations further. A draft of this text is already on the table, however it is clear that there is much to be done in terms of discussion and amendments before this is formally agreed. In order to do this, talks have been split into a number of different subject areas including agricultural issues, development issues and industrial goods upon which talks will take place simultaneously. Each issue has been allocated a trade minister to act as chairperson. It will be this person’s job to co-ordinate the talks on that issue and eventually, if all goes to plan, produce the final wording, which will be slotted into the overall ministerial text.

Quaker organisations based in the UK (QPSW), Canada (Quaker International Affairs Programme – QIAP), Switzerland (the Quaker United Nations Office) and US (American Friends Service Committee) are represented here in Hong Kong and will be working on both the inside and outside of the conference centre. It is hoped that over the next six days these updates will give Friends a taste of what it is like to be here, information on the extent to which the negotiation process is progressing and of course some reflections on what this all means from a Quaker perspective.