global trade.

game · Guru

global trade.

sepusepu · Senior Member

The only thing i can think of is that malawians should think global and act local. If you ask most malawian enterprenuers most of them dont think about tackling the international market. There is always somebody looking for our products or services but its a matter of innovation and finding the consumer.

Most of the technology and methods that we use are copied from other nations and we dont make an effort to make them better than the originators. We need to innovate, we dont have to invent but rather see where we fit in this global economy.

sepu

guevara · Senior Member

sepusepu wrote:

The only thing i can think of is that malawians should think global and act local. If you ask most malawian enterprenuers most of them dont think about tackling the international market. There is always somebody looking for our products or services but its a matter of innovation and finding the consumer.

Most of the technology and methods that we use are copied from other nations and we dont make an effort to make them better than the originators. We need to innovate, we dont have to invent but rather see where we fit in this global economy.

sepu

i stand for that!

game · Guru

sepu,sometime back a british government white paper on overseas development said that developing countries need to provide their people with material opportunities for using their talents.was this because of the world wide concern of mass unemployment?how can african countries provide for their people at the same time participate in global trade when there is too little aid?africa has the same dual economical problems like china and india yet these two countries are major players of the global trade.when i say dual economy i mean the two different patterns of living separated from each other as two worlds.the majority of people in african countries are confined in rural areas where there is no access to good water,learning facilities, industrial companies that can provide these people with jobs even if it means cheap labour.these people are deprived.

how can they disentagle and participate in global trade?its not a problem of production,malawians can produce but if the products are not given good value on the international market then whats the use of global trade to africans?is this just one of the politically correct or over optimistic language from the west?

sepusepu · Senior Member

I saw an article about graduation of a couple of students in Renewable Energy from Mzuni. These are the areas that we need to try as much as we can to innovate. The only problem is that since this is a hot topic at the moment i think the west would not want to fund it to a point where we pass them in the field. This comes down to ourselves, we have to be independent in order to break new frontiers.

On the other hand these graduates should be passionate about what they are doing.

Ask ourselves what we can do for mother Nyasa and not what Nyasa can do for you.

sepu

eetchef · Senior Member

I usually find any freedom without opportunity as a very devil's gift, and any refusal regardless of extent to provide such opportunities is criminal in human nature. I mean look, it’s exactly 14 years today when Malawians were seduced into democratic system of governance to offer what they dubbed meaningful freedom , ufulu and mtendere. Whether for sure it was a priority for Malawians at that time or we might have had an alternative destination , it’s a matter of personal conjecture. December , 2006 that celebrated democracy is under attack everywhere including the leading industrial countries and Iraq being an example in principle .As regards what you call the newly introduced multilateral trade systems, well I think at least, this democracy I am talking about in a meaningful sense of the term, somehow involves opportunities for people to manage their own collective and individual affairs. I find something similar is true of global markets. These assaults on democracy and markets are furthermore related and have same origin. Their roots lie in the power of corporate entities that are totalitarian in internal structure, increasingly interlinked and reliant on powerful states, and largely unaccountable to the less developed poor countries as Malawi. Their immense power is growing as a result of social policy that is globalizing the structural model of the less developed countries , with sectors of enormous wealth and privilege alongside an increase in ``the proportion of those who will labour under all the hardships of life, and secretly sigh for a more equal distribution of its blessings.

On looking at Chinas and India’s economic growth I have a feeling it has nothing to do with global trade in simple terms.Understand what i want to mean here. I believe that there is more into it that sees the eye. I think it more to do with monopolistic pricing practices enforced by protectionist measures that are introduced into what are called free trade agreements by the western world. These measures when you study them are designed to ensure corporate rights which also have the effect of reducing growth and innovation. And they are only part of the array of regulations introduced into these agreements which prevent development and growth. What is at stake is investor rights, not trade. And trade, of course, has no value in itself. It's a value if it increases human welfare, otherwise not. Search within yourself mathematically what’s the relationship between Chinas/Indias economic growth and their human development indeces? Whos behind these mass productions anyway? Here is another food for thought.

Malawians as Guinea-pigs

Notice what's at stake here. The question that I have here is whether people from less developed countries as Malawi have the right to refuse to be experimental subjects. It’s so funny when you tend to notice that the Western World take people from less developed countries for guinea pigs in my language. I mean these rich countries act as if they were a Biology Department at the university walking in the Students Common Room and tell you, "You folks have to be experimental subjects in an experiment we're carrying out, where we're going to stick electrodes in your brain and see what happens. You can refuse, but only if you provide scientific evidence that it's going to harm you." Usually of course you can't provide scientific evidence. But my rather stupid question is, do you have a right to refuse? I believe this implication under World Trade Organization rules, you don’t. Malawi and other less developed have to be experimental subjects. Answering the questions; can Malawi compete on an international scale? Is Malawi ready to participate in global trade? Do we have valuable resources to resuscitate our failing economy? Are there any untapped gems in Malawi to keep our hopes up? Well, I believe all these questions answer to “YES”, but only if it was possible to retain what is called "producer sovereignty." Malawi being a producer regardless at what scale must have to reign; and this means all those consumer countries then have to somehow defend themselves. That should work domestically too I believe, why not? .I mean it's not the responsibility, say, of chemical and pesticide industries to prove that what they're putting into the environment is safe. It's the responsibility of the public to prove scientifically that it's unsafe, and they have to do this through under funded public agencies that are susceptible to industry influence through lobbying and other pressures. Sorry, I know I might not be able to simplify this, am afraid it will change meaning and content.

-- Edited by eetchef at 21:26, 2006-12-08

-- Edited by eetchef at 21:30, 2006-12-08

-- Edited by eetchef at 21:37, 2006-12-08

game · Guru

yes we have to be independent,i strongly agree.we have to think of what we can do for mother nyasa not what mother nyasa can do for us,so where do we start,huh? our scientists incessantly tell us with the utmost assurance that everything around us has evolved by small mutations through natural selection. here development planners think they can do better and create a viable environment for the poor only if they help themselves. but sepu, remember that it is easy to create small industrial islands in our society,but such islands will then have to be defended, like fortresses. without doing that they will divide,the rich on one side and the poor on the other.

we have to innovate yes,and then what? keep on innovating? do you know that the success of the rich countries destroys the efforts of the poor. so how can we join in and expect to be recognised? there will always be mutual poisoning and the africans are the ones to suffer. look at the relative failure of aid, how many africans,malawians in particular are dissapointed with the effectiveness of aid? like when someone said,dont give me fish but teach me how to catch fish.my question is,how can one learn how to catch fish when resourcess at his disposal are limited?

as for my friend eetchef,thanks for a very articulate piece.what you have failed to elaborate is how the majority of malawians in rural areas improvise on the untapped gems without help from the government, or with inadequate aid?

-- Edited by game at 22:02, 2006-12-08

-- Edited by game at 22:04, 2006-12-08

sepusepu · Senior Member

was this because of the world wide concern of mass unemployment?

Depending on where exactlly this came from. It makes sense that well trained labor force is the key. It might have meant lower cost of materials from developing countries due to low labor costs.

how can they disentagle and participate in global trade?

The first step is the hardest but if we are going to turn the corner its gotta be done. Training comes first, it might be cheap labor to the west but on the other hand its more than what these people make at the moment. The portable water is a government responsibility to provide infrastructures. These investors will not just land in malawi but rather malawi should sell itself to the investors. We should answer questions why they should not go to zambia or tanzania. where there is will there is a way.

whats the use of global trade to africans?

this concept boils down to specialization. Knowing what we can produce at a lower cost than other countries and knowing what we have a greater efficiency than other countries e.g. we are an agro based nation but unfortunately we are not the best in the industry(remeber zim) its a matter of knowing what we are good at and be the best.

is this just one of the politically correct or over optimistic language from the west?

it might be if you are not ready to participate and compete in this market but for those that are ready this makes a lot of sense and has resulted into the florishing of some economies.

sepu

sepusepu · Senior Member

so where do we start,huh?

Thats the key. I believe we have to understand the whole international trade theory in and out up and down. Then we can see where we fit.

we have to innovate yes,and then what? keep on innovating?

Innovation is the development of new product, process, organizations, management practices, and strategies. This is only possible with the knowledge of the market and the prospective consumer.

how many africans,malawians in particular are dissapointed with the effectiveness of aid?

Alot are dissappointed but to be honest most people that are used to receiving without any work in exchange tend to be seldomly satisfied.

how can one learn how to catch fish when resourcess at his disposal are limited?

I think if we dont have challenges to face how can we be the superior specie on earth. I believe there is a way but it wont just show up we have to look and we will find it.

sepu's Attempts

-- Edited by sepusepu at 22:38, 2006-12-08

game · Guru

Innovation is the development of new product, process, organizations, management practices, and strategies. This is only possible with the knowledge of the market and the prospective consumer.

sepu

there is a belief i want you and me to carry to extra lengths,we all know what poverty does to people's state of mind,in some it gives them the go ahead to succeed while in some it systematicaly surpress their will to develop.there is a degree of poverty which degrades and stultifies people and our first task is to recognise the boundaries and limitations this degree of poverty imposes.think of all the causes of poverty in malawi and africa,the primary cause is lack of natural wealth,or lack of capita,then comes the insufficiency of infrustructure especially in rural areas.do you think the developing countries like malawi can survive without the modern sector?

i think the only countries that can benefit from multilateral trade systems are the ones in direct contact with the developed worlds which malawi is not one of them. i believe in what is best for the rich must be best for the poor,you dont need to be in direct contact with the rich man to be rich yourself.look at mugabe's zimbabwe,all along the country was flourishing in wealth,that is when the whites controlled all the countries natural resoucess,what happened when mugabe decided to give zimbabweans a share of what belonged to them?here is the answer,their economy crumbled.do you ever ask yourself why?

sepusepu · Senior Member

I have to agree with you on what poverty does to people. Few will stand in harms way and try to better themselves in order to better themselves.

I think mugabe messed up by kicking out the whites in a short period rather than gradually replacing the whites with well trained zim native. Mugabe replaced commercial farmers with domestic farmers.

On the other hand zim was the food basket of southern Africa Malawi should step up to bridge the deficit that has been created in this regional market. How many gradutes from bunda have ventured directly into running a personal farm regardless of funds. Most bunda graduates want to sit in an office doing Crop science.

sepu