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Barter not Bhutan

12 March 2010

Prime Minister is rightly doubtful about joining WTO. WTO is too huge and consumerist for tiny Bhutan. Its philosophy is free trade, which is consumerist in nature. Consumerism is for huge trading economies, not for a young, rudimentary economy like Bhutan.

Bhutan stands to gain little from free trade because we have little to trade. Today, the carefully produced little we have to trade is readily absorbed by our neighbours. The desired little we need is freely available in dribs and drabs. What more do we want?

To join WTO is to be swamped by more than what we need. Our small market will be flooded with all kinds of goods in huge quantities. And they will come cheap and fresh. And therein lies the danger.

Let us consider agriculture. Our farm produce is not even enough for our own consumption. The bulk of rice and vegetables the urban population consumes, for example, is imported. Nevertheless, we keep producing our own food, and keep increasing the production with self-sufficiency and self-reliance in mind.

If we open ourselves up to the world’s trading giants, cheap farm produce from thousands of miles across the border will wipe out our local produce from the market. Consequently, our farmers will lose business. This will, in turn, put our national goals of food self-sufficiency and organic hotspot in the doldrums.

Pro-WTO critics argue that, if we get more than enough food cheap and fresh, what the meaning of self-sufficiency is. Food self-sufficiency is not all about having enough to eat. More importantly, it is about national sovereignty and pride. Sufficiency fuelled by others is neither predictable, nor sustainable in the long term.

If we are bound by WTO trade agreements, a huge multinational food company can easily and cheaply feed Bhutan. But our agriculture will be totally wiped out. This is not an assumption. There are stories about many small economies and poor countries being ravaged by WTO.

The impact will not be limited to agriculture, though. It will be huge and diverse. Our culture, value system, environment, health, and education, among others, will suffer the impact.

Today, we have imposed on ourselves a number of restrictions in the form of environmental, cultural and business laws. To subscribe to the WTO trade regimes is to be bound by its rules and regulations that may be in conflict with the national laws and value system. Which means that our laws, national priorities, and sovereign rights may have to be compromised.

Above all, we will not have the sovereign space to operate within the GNH paradigm. This will sap us of our national philosophy.

Like our grandparents say, let us be content with our own fruit of labour.

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Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under Editorial 

Comments

One Response to “Barter not Bhutan”

  1. anita on March 13th, 2010 7:57 pm

    Dear Bhutan,
    You will never be the same if you join the WTO. Please do not do this, there has never been a positive result for developing nations where the WTO is concerned. If you are ready to just say Goodbye to your beautiful country OK, but please let me tell you that what you have is more special than any other place and Bhutan and its people need to decide its future, Please Do Not go with the WTO.
    anita

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