PRESS RELEASE
Friends of the Earth International
Business rules in the WTO: Who pays the
price?
London (UK) / Cancun (Mexico), August 28,
2003 -- With two weeks to go before the World
Trade Organisation?s (WTO) Ministerial
meeting in Cancun, a new report reveals the
key role transnational corporations play in
shaping the policy of the WTO.
'Business Rules: Who pays the price?' will
be released on August 28, 2003 and was
produced by Friends of the Earth
International, the world's largest grassroots
environmental federation, and Corporate
Europe Observatory (CEO).
Media representatives can preview the
embargoed report at:
www.foei.org/publications/trade/businessrules.pdf
Friends of the Earth International is
highlighting the WTO meeting which it
believes could have devastating impacts on
people and the environment around the
world.
Through a series of eight case studies,
this report strips back the rhetoric of free
trade and the "pro-development agenda" and
reveals the reality of the WTO system.
Companies named and shamed include Pfizer,
Suez, Halliburton, Monsanto, Endesa, Shell,
Philip Morris, and Exxon Mobil. The corporate
lobby groups include the International
Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Pharmaceutical
Research and Manufacturers of America
(PhRMA), the Biotechnology Industry
Organization (BIO), the European Services
Forum (ESF), the US Coalition of Service
Industries (USCSI), the National Foreign
Trade Council (NFTC), and the American Farm
Bureau Federation (AFBF).
"Transnational corporations through their
powerful lobby groups are playing a central
role in setting the 'free trade' agenda,"
said Raul Benet in Cancun. "They are using
their financial and political muscle to steer
decisions in the most powerful countries in
the WTO: the US, the European Union, and
Japan," he added.
The aim of transnational corporations is
to make greater profits by opening up new
markets and creating a set of pro-business
rules in the WTO. For ordinary people and the
environment this is bad news.
The case studies highlight the
environmental and social impacts that the
corporations and lobby groups have on few key
areas: food, health and environmental
standards, access to essential medicines,
control over foreign investment and access to
essential services.
For more information please contact:
In Cancun, Mexico: Raul Benet
+52-55-51438927 (mobile)
In London, UK: Ronnie Hall +44-796-7017281
(only valid until Sept.2)
In Amsterdam, Netherlands, Olivier Hoedeman
+31-20-6127023 (CEO
office)
For more information about the World Trade
Organisation's (WTO)
Ministerial meeting in Cancun please visit
www.foei.org/cancun
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