Despite claims by U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky Thursday that she is not aware of dissent from developing countries over WTO negotiating process, ministers from several of those countries say they have been essentially shut out of the process, and that they have tried repeatedly to make their concerns known.

"We came here with high expectations from our countries in the Carribean," said Clement Rohee, Guyana’s minister of foreign affairs. "We are very much disappointed over the fact that coming from small economies we ended up with a situation where we are totally marginalized in a process that has been virtually hijacked by the more wealthier developed countries."

Tetteh Hormeku of the Africa Trade Network, a coalition of NGOs, said that the negotiations have been taken out of the official meeting rooms and moved behind closed doors.

"The table has been shifted out of the rooms where they are supposed to be," he said. "The powerful countries, especially the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Canada, the quad, have taken the negotiations into the corridors."

Hormeku said that during a meeting of the working group on new issues about nine out of ten developing countries spoke out against proposed items to be included in a new negotiating round. He said their positions were politely summarized by the chair of the group, but ultimately ignored.

And the trade ministers from the Organization of African Unity released a statement as follows, "We wish to express our disappointment and disagreement with the way in which the negotiations are being conducted at this Third WTO Ministerial Conference."

Among the issues developing countries would like to see addressed are the preferential access to markets for developing countries, especially to Europe’s agricultural markets.

When asked about the complaints of developing countries, Barshefsky, chair of the WTO Ministerial, pleaded ignorance.

"I am not aware of that situation so I find it odd that perhaps the delegations might have come to (the press) but not to me or (WTO Director-General) Mike Moore."

Sonny Ramphal, chief negotiator for Carribean countries. said that Barshefsky should be well aware of the frustration of developing countries.

"I was at a meeting this morning of the central committee that the bangs on the table were so loud that it went all around the room," Ramphal said, adding that the WTO and developing countries appears to be more concerned with enhancing corporate profits than trying to create fair trading conditions for the whole world.

"This should not be a game about enhancing corporate profits," said Sonny Ramphal, chief negotiator for Carribean countries," he said.

"This should not be a time when big countries, strong countries, the world’s wealthiest countries, are setting about a process designed to enrich themselves."

Two developing-world acti-vists leveled a withering blast at the WTO accusing Moore, of being a "loose cannon," and the Seattle Ministerial of being the most disorganized, confusing such meeting ever held.

Martin Khor of the Third World Network and Chakrobati Ragavan of the South North Development Monitor spoke to a standing-room-only crowd at the Madison Hotel. Ragavan said that in 22 years of involvement with international trade, "I have never been to such a badly organized conference. The rooms don’t work, the microphones don’t work. Who’s at fault? Is it the (Clinton) Administration? The USTR? Bill Gates? This is the most manipulated meeting ever."

He speculated that perhaps the US has deliberately caused the confusion "so it could step in and have its way."

Ragavan described a meeting with ministers and Mike Moore in which the director general was challenged about the secrecy and back-room meetings.

Moore was said to have said that the runup to the ministerial and the meeting itself were "totally transparent"—and was booed by Third World ministers.

"The WTO is being dictatorial," Ragavan said, "and ministers are screaming. Tempers are rising. The WTO is described as a ‘rules-based’ organization," he went on, "but it can’t cite the rules under which it’s doing what it’s doing.

Ragavan cautiously predicted that one of two things is likely to happen.

Either Mike Moore and Charlene Barshefsky will come up with a short take-it-or-leave-it declaration and force other nations to acquiesce, or they could give up and postpone further discussions to a later date in Geneva.