MEDIA ADVISORY
Advance Notice for January 16 and 21,
2004
Friends of the Earth International
WORLD TRADE BODY IN BED WITH BIG BUSINESS
IN DAVOS
January 2004, Davos (Switzerland) / Mumbai
(India) -- Business leaders will gather in
the Swiss mountain resort of Davos from
January 21 to 25 for the annual meeting of
the World Economic Forum (WEF), for the first
time since global trade talks collapsed last
September.
In the preceding days (January 16-21),
tens of thousands of civil society
representatives meet for the World Social
Forum [1], held this year in Mumbai.
The World Economic Forum [2], which paved
the way for the creation of the World Trade
Organization (WTO), this year hosts selected
WTO members for closed-door meetings aimed at
trying to kick start trade negotiations
following the dramatic collapse of trade
talks in Cancun (Mexico) in September 2003.
Corporate interests are at the core of the
Davos gathering and this year business
leaders are stepping up their efforts to
expand the remit of the WTO and gain access
to new markets.
Friends of the Earth International will be
keeping a close watch on the World Economic
Forum from the independent 'Public Eye on
Davos' [3], an open (January 21-23)
conference co-organised with the Berne
Declaration to provide a critical analysis of
the WEF corporate-driven globalisation
agenda.
This year, the 'Public Eye on Davos' will
be opened by former United Nations (UN) High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson.
In an effort to diffuse criticism about its
secrecy, the WEF organised its own 'Open
Forum' that will run in parallel to its
traditional closed-door meetings.
"The World Economic Forum claims to act in
the public interest. This year it will focus
its annual meeting on the themes of security
and prosperity. But behind the closed doors
and the WEF's public relations gloss there is
a different reality," said Tony Juniper,
vice-chair of Friends of the Earth
International.
"Prosperity for the World Economic Forum
means prosperity for the huge multinational
corporations who write the rules of world
trade - rules that help them, but often hurt
the global environment and the poorest
people. It is deeply worrying and quite wrong
for world trade policy to be decided in
secret and while dissenters are excluded," he
added.
At the World Social Forum (a yearly
gathering traditionally held in Porto Alegre,
Brazil) meeting in Mumbai (India), Friends of
the Earth is involved in organising
conferences on corporate accountability and
trade liberalisation (among other issues) as
a contribution to the World Social Forum's
attempt to challenge and formulate
alternatives to current thinking on
corporate-led economic globalization.
Friends of the Earth International is the
world's largest grassroots environmental
federation with 68 national member groups in
as many countries and more than one million
individual members.
For more information contact Friends of
the Earth International :
In Davos (January 21-25):
Tony Juniper +44-(0) 7712 843 207
(mobile)
Miriam Behrens +41 79 2160206 (mobile)
In Mumbai (India), Jan 15-21:
Ronnie Hall +44 7967 017281 (mobile)
NOTES:
[1] WSF website:
http://www.wsfindia.org
[2] WEF website: http://www.weforum.org
[3] Public Eye on Davos website: See
http://www.evb.ch/index.cfm?set_lang=2&folder_id=111
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