---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 21 Jan 1998 19:57:56 -0500 From: Andrea Durbin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [csdgen] Financial Times Article on MAI **Apologies for Cross Listing** What follows is an article in the Financial Times about the latest state of play with the MAI negotations. NGOs have successfully pushed the environment and labor issues enough that the negotiators realize that we are a political force to reckon with and are madly trying to figure out what can be done (of course the "fixes" they are discussing are not enough to resolve the fundamental problems with the agreement). The latest efforts however by the negotiators has led the business community to begin to question whether or not the agreement will have enough in it for them to support in the end. The article summarizes the state of play. The next MAI negotiations will be in mid-February with high level officials. This will be the key negotiating session where they will decide whether or not to go ahead with the agreement and finalize it in April; or call the whole thing off. The next four weeks are critical for the NGO movement against the MAI to increase its efforts and organize aggressively against the MAI. We will be in touch again soon with more information and suggested actions groups can take during a two week "anti-mai action" period (February 7 - 20th). Stay tuned. If you have any information or intelligence to share about what is happening in your country, please forward it to us. Thanks. Andrea Durbin, Friends of the Earth - US ------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Financial Times, Monday January 19, 1998 (page 5) Title: Worries over planned investment accord Author: Guy de Jonquieres ------------------------------------------------------------------- Leading business organisations in the US and Europe are concerned that a planned agreement to promote foreign direct investment seems likely to dismantle few international barriers and may create costly new ones. The Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), being negotiated by the 29-member Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has been billed as an attempt to devise rules and disciplines comparable with those for world trade. But business representatives said they were disappointed the talks had failed so far to achieve any real liberalisation and worried the agreement might impose restrictive labour and environmental standards on multinational companies. "We now hear of disturbing signs that many of the elements we were hoping for may not be possible," said Herman van Karnebeek, deputy chairman of Akzo Nobel, the Dutch chemicals group, which heads the OECD business and industry advisory committee. "What then, we are asking ourselves, is in the MAI for us?" Frans Engering, chairman of the OECD talks, conceded the draft agreement contained flaws, which required further negotiation. But he dismissed some criticisms by business organisations as misplaced, and said they had adopted a more positive attitude after meeting OECD negotiators late last week. Nonetheless, some business representatives say unless they are satisfied with the final agreement, due to be completed by April, they will not support its approval by OECD member parliaments. Business organisations have stepped up their lobbying partly to counter demands by trade unions and other non-government bodies for tough provisions in the MAI to enforce core labour standards and strengthen environmental safeguards. Many of the demands are supported by the US, which is pressing hard for tighter environmental provisions in the MAI. Although business groups say they can accept some US goals, they oppose a proposal to require environmental impact assessments of certain planned investments. Some business lobbyists are worried that strengthening labour standards provisions in the MAI could make it harder for governments to adopt policies designed to create more flexible labour markets. They also complain that OECD governments are still attaching reservations and exceptions to commitments to protect foreign investors and are balking at a binding undertaking to renounce abusive tax treatment of foreign-owned subsidiaries. Mr Engering said the MAI talks now needed to move beyond technical issues to political discussions. These will be held next month, when OECD deputy ministers meet in Paris. ** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. ** Clifton Curtis Political Advisor Greenpeace International Tel: 1.202.319.2473 Fax: 1.202.462.4507 [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1436 U St., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009 USA
