Who wrote this play, anyhow?
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Sat, 7 Aug 1999 00:39:51 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Margrete Strand-Rangnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: (wto) Seattle: "A plan to let public in on WTO talks"
A plan to let public in on WTO talks
Clinton wants officials to hear from array of groups
Friday, August 6, 1999
By MICHAEL PAULSON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration wants to set aside the
day before this fall's World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle
to allow consumer, environmental and labor groups to air their
concerns directly to the world's trade ministers.
The move to provide a formal opportunity for public interest groups
to address members of the often closed and secretive international
organization comes as companies, countries, and a variety of
organizations are stepping up their efforts to influence the Seattle
gathering, which will be the largest trade meeting ever held in the
United States.
Industries from chocolate manufacturers to liquor distillers want
Congress to put their needs on the U.S. agenda, while members of
Congress want to use the WTO to do everything from stemming
the flow of filmmaking jobs to Canada to protecting U.S. steel and
sugar industries.
And an army of public interest groups, concerned that trade
liberalization is coming at the expense of the environment, food
safety, consumers and workers, is planning a mix of protest and
participation in their efforts to call attention to their critique of global
trade liberalization.
Although many countries do not share the United States' concern
about labor and environmental issues, Deputy United States Trade
Representative Susan Esserman testified at a congressional
hearing yesterday that her agency hopes to offer consumer groups,
business associations, environmental groups and labor
organizations a chance to publicly voice their views.
Her boss, Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky, will be
chairwoman of the Seattle meeting.
"We do think it's very important for members of civil society to have
direct access to the ministers," Esserman said. Then, citing a
"very successful and very positive" gathering in Geneva in March in
which environmental groups were allowed to speak to WTO trade
ministers, Esserman said, "we are also contemplating doing the
very same thing on a range of issues the day before the ministerial
(meeting) begins in Seattle."
Esserman said the gathering for business, consumer,
environmental and labor groups might be a tough sell to some
countries. "Many governments around the world do not share our
interest in labor, so there is a great deal of work that needs to be
done . . . to talk to other governments about the importance of
including the labor perspective."
Pressed by Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., on whether the interest
groups would really have an opportunity to speak directly to foreign
trade ministers, Esserman said "we are seeking to include
mechanisms for direct participation, by labor, by environmental
groups, so that they have a chance to directly provide their views to
the ministers in the WTO. This is something that we have been
urging on the other countries in the WTO who don't necessarily
share our interest in doing this. But we have very, very strongly
advocated doing it."
Critics of the fast pace at which the WTO is affecting world trade
greeted Esserman's proposal with skepticism. Although President
Clinton hopes the Seattle session will launch a new round of global
trade negotiations, the critics say the WTO would be better off
pausing to reflect on the successes and failures of past trade
liberalization efforts.
"If we have this kind of forum the day before the ministers meet, not
only is it going to be too little, but it will be too late," said David
Downes, a senior attorney at the Center for International
Environmental Law, who said the United States government has
not been aggressive enough in pushing environmental concerns.
"By the time the ministers sit down in Seattle, the deal will have
been done, so this will have as much show value as anything else."
Environmentalists are concerned that in the rush to remove trade
barriers between nations, it is becoming too easy to override
environmental standards of various countries. That complaint is
echoed by advocates of strict food safety and labor standards, who
argue that the most progressive countries are being forced to give
up some of their consumer and worker protections in the interests
of uniform global regulations.
"Our ultimate objective is that there should no longer be a
downward harmonization of health and food and environmental
standards," said Mike Dolan, the deputy director of the Global
Trade Watch program of Public Citizen, a consumer group founded
by Ralph Nader. "There has been a trumping of laws by faceless
trade bureaucrats in Geneva, and it's not acceptable."
Dolan is helping a wide array of public interest groups prepare for
the Seattle meeting, and he promises a mix of tactics to try to
influence it.
"There is a very intricate choreography of inside and outside
activities by a number of civil society groups," he said. "On the
inside, accredited non-governmental organizations will take
whatever the World Trade Organization is willing to offer in the way
of seats near the table. On the outside, there will be a series of
organized symposia, press conferences and strategy sessions, as
well as demonstrations and protests. . ."
As for the proposed one-day event, Dolan said, "I can't wait to
receive my invitation to that. I'll believe it when I see it. Our
challenge is to have a seat at the table, and not merely near the
table."
**********************************
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed
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included information for research and educational purposes.
Margrete Strand Rangnes
MAI Project Coordinator
Public Citizen Global Trade Watch
215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE
Washington DC, 20003 USA
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
202-454-5106
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