Dear colleagues and friends, In cooperation with Alexandra Wandel of Friends of the Earth Europe, the following press release has been issued by StopMAI (WA) with an embargo against publication before 14 June. Please feel free to adapt this material for your own supportive statement and/or to have your organisation to sign on to the statement below. As in the months before Seattle, it is important that trade negotiators at the WTO Qatar be encouraged to realise that it is quite OK for a new round to be again rejected. The European Union has been lobbying the smaller countries who make up the majority on the WTO, but it is by no means certain that they have the numbers. Regards Brian Jenkins StopMAI Coalition, Western Australia Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * [THE EMBARGOED PRESS RELEASE] EU Summit: Civil Society calls on EU to withdraw new WTO round proposal On the eve of the European Union (EU) summit in Gothenborg, over 60 civil society groups from all around the world are today launching a statement calling on the EU to withdraw its proposal for a new and comprehensive round of trade talks in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Instead, the EU is urged to take the lead in calling for fundamental change in the world's trading system, in line with its own sustainable development and human rights objectives. The signatories from 25 countries argue that the EU's proposal remains virtually unchanged since the WTO's last Ministerial in Seattle in December 1999, when it contributed to the collapse of negotiations due to the unprecedented opposition from developing countries and civil society groups. In the statement, NGOs warn that the same tensions could cause the collapse of the 4th WTO Ministerial to be held in Doha, Qatar from 9-13 November 2001. The statement says 'A new round is not inevitable. Furthermore, mandated negotiations already under way are sufficiently controversial, having the potential to have severe negative impacts on people, the environment and local economies in both the North and the South.' Signatories urge the EU to start 'calling on WTO members to commission an independent review of and to rectify the deficiencies of the world trade system and the WTO itself. Such a review should address the WTO's impact on marginalised communities, development, democracy, environment, health, human rights, the rights of women and children and labour and consumer rights. The complete statement and the list of signatories is at internet site http://www.foeeurope.org Contacts in Gothenborg: Alexandra Wandel, Friends of the Earth Europe (in Gothenborg until 16 June), tel: +49-172-748 39 53; Klas Ronnback, Miljoforbundet Jordens Vanner/Friends of the Earth Sweden, tel:+46-739-057760 ends [Please note, EMBARGOED for release on 14 June 01] * * * * * [THE STATEMENT] ****Call for the European Union to withdraw its proposal for a new and comprehensive round of trade negotiations in the World Trade Organisation**** Despite continued and vocal opposition from governments and people around the world, the European Union (EU) continues to call for the establishment of a new and comprehensive round of trade negotiations at the next World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial in Qatar, in November 2001. The EU's proposal remains virtually unchanged since the WTO's last Ministerial in Seattle, in December 1999, when it contributed to the collapse of negotiations due to unprecedented opposition from developing countries and civil society groups. The same tensions could cause the collapse of the Qatar Ministerial. The EU intends to bring a broad range of 'new issues' - including investment, competition and government procurement - to the negotiating table. Many developing countries are opposed to this position, on the grounds that - far from being a 'development round', as suggested by Clare Short, the UK's Secretary of State for International Development - this agenda ignores their concerns and threatens to undermine their development needs (1). During the Seattle Ministerial, nearly 1500 citizens' groups and social movements from 89 developed and developing countries also opposed the EU's new round agenda on the basis that it would have severe social, economic and environmental impacts (2). These concerns remain but appear to have been ignored (3). The undersigned support a multilateral trading system that is democratic, equitable, sustainable and in harmony with the requirements of local and regional economies. However, the WTO, with the active support of the EU and the WTO Secretariat - notably EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and WTO Director General Mike Moore - are promoting a different agenda, that of corporate globalisation. Instead of recognising and addressing the social, economic and environmental problems associated with existing WTO agreements, they are pushing for further trade liberalisation in the areas of servcies, investment, competition and government procurement, largely at the behest of and in the interest of transnational corporations based primarily in the EU and the United States. The EU should withdraw its proposal for a new and comprehensive round. A new round is not inevitable. Furthermore, mandated negotiations already underway (concerning intellectual property rights and the further liberalisation of trade in services and agriculture) are already sufficiently controversial, having the potential to have severe negative impacts on people, the environment and local economies in both the North and the South. Instead, the European Union should take the lead in calling for fundamental change to the world's trading system, in line with its own sustainable development and human rights objectives. The EU should start by calling on WTO members to commission an independent review of and then rectify the deficiencies of the world trade system and the WTO itself. Such a review should address the WTO's impact on marginalised communities, development, democracy, environment, health, human rights, the rights of women and children and labour and consumers' rights. Such a review should be conducted with civil society's full participation. Review and rectification of the current trade system is essential if society is to change course and develop an alternative, humane and sustainable international system of trade and investment relations. (1) India, Malaysia and Pakistan are the key countries leading developing country opposition to a new round. (2) See 'Statement from Members of International Civil Society Opposing a Millennium Round or a New Round of Comprehensive Trade Negotiations' at www.foei.org/activist_guide/tradeweb/ngostat.htm (3) 'See WTO - Shrink or Sink! The Turn Around Agenda' at http://www.tradewatch.org/gattwto/ShrinkSink/shrinksink.htm To sign your organisation on please reply to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Number of signatories at 11 June 2001: 63 25 Countries represented: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA [THE SIGNATORIES TO DATE] Africa-Europe Faith and Justice Network (AEFJN) Alliance for Democracy (Austin, Texas Chapter), USA Alternative to EU-Finland Amici della Terra, Italy Amigos de la Tierra, Spain Amis de la Terre, France ANU/Tresam, Goteborg, Sweden Asia-Pacific Environmental Exchange, Seattle, USA Association International de Techniciens, Experts et Chercheurs (AITEC), France Association Transnationale, France ATTAC-France Awami Committee for Development, Pakistan Berne Declaration, Switzerland Blue 21 e.v., Berlin Working Group on Environment and Development, Germany BothENDS, the Netherlands BUND, Friends of the Earth Germany Center for Economic Justice, USA Center for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Bad Ischl, Austria Congregation of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd (international) Consumers' Association of Penang, Malaysia Corporate Europe Observatory, the Netherlands Corpwatch, USA Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) (international) Emmaus Bjorka, Sweden EU-Critical Youth - Finland Federasi Serikat Petani Indonesia - FSPI Focus on the Global South, Thailand Freedom for Animals, Toronto, Canada Friends of the Earth (England, Wales and N Ireland) Friends of the Earth Europe Fundacion Solon, Bolivia Latinamerikakommitten, Jonkoping, Sweden Informationsgruppe Lateinamerika (IGLA), Vienna, Austria Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, USA International Coalition for Development Action (international) International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), Indonesia International South Group Network (ISGN) (international) Institute for Relocalisation of Economy, France Maan ystavat ry, Friends of the Earth, Finland Milieudefensie, the Netherlands Miljofobundet Jordens Vanner/Friends of the Earth, Sweden Nea Ecologia-Friends of the Earth, Greece NOAH, Friends of the Earth Denmark Ohio Fair Trade Campaign, USA OXFAM-Solidarity, Belgium Sahabat Alam Malaysia Solagral, France S.P.I.R.A.L.S, Ireland Strategic Development Initiative (SDI), France StopMAICoalition, Western Australia Tebtebba Foundation, the Philippines The Swallows, Association for Voluntary Service, Bangladesh Third World Network (international) Tourism Concern, UK Unite de Recherche, de Formation et d'Information sur la Globalisation (URFIG), Brussels-Paris-Geneva UVB-Utbildning for bistandsverksamhet, Sweden Vic WTO Watch (Victoria, Australia) Werkgroep Globalisering Delft-Den Haag, the Netherlands World Development Movement, Scotland World Development Movement Aberdeen Branch, Scotland World Development Movement Edinburgh Branch, Scotland World Economy, Ecology and Environment (WEED), Germany XminusY Solidarity Fund, the Netherlands -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
