MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
DAVOS MEETINGS: SECRET AGENDA AND
PARTICIPANTS
Advance notice for January 20, 2004
January 20, 2004, Davos (Switzerland) --
One day before the start of the annual
meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF)
here, Friends of the Earth International
branded the gathering of senior executives
and their invited guests as a means for big
business to protect its interests at the
expense of people and the environment.
The world's leading grassroots
environmental group said that the WEF [1]
posed a threat to democracy by hosting
discussions vital to the whole world behind
closed doors.
The secrecy of the WEF's annual meeting
was confirmed on January 19th when Friends of
the Earth International Vice Chair Tony
Juniper requested a list of WEF participants
and the detailed agenda they would address.
The office of the WEF's senior managing
director, Jose Maria Figueres, said that the
detailed agenda and people attending was
confidential.
Tony Juniper accused the business-centred
organization of hiding behind a screen of
philanthropy while fixing access to new
markets and greater profits for big business,
regardless of the impacts on natural
resources and the world's poor.
In an effort to diffuse criticism about
its secrecy, the WEF started in 2003 its own
'Open Forum' that runs in parallel to its
traditional closed-door meetings. Because the
WEF and the 'Open Forum' are both called
'Forum', media reports and the public may
confuse them.
More than 2,000 representatives from the
top 1000 global companies along with state
leaders are invited to the meeting, which
this year embraces a theme of "security and
prosperity". But only select participants
will address the issue of global trade,
following the collapse of World Trade
Organisation talks in Cancun (Mexico) last
year and will meet on january 23 to try to
re-start trade talks.
"When business leaders claim to be acting
in the interests of security and prosperity,
they mean security to protect the prosperity
of the multinational companies who rule the
world rather than the greater peace and
security of the world," said Friends of the
Earth International Vice Chair Tony
Juniper.
"CEOs still claim that what is good for
large corporations is good for society - but
world leaders should face up to the fact that
this is not the case," added Nur Hidayati of
Friends of the Earth Indonesia.
On January 15, a report from the World
Economic Forum's own Global Governance
Initiative revealed the extent to which big
business is failing to protect the planet's
natural resources or meet the needs of the
world's poor. The report [2] found that the
international community scored no more than
four out of ten for its effort and
co-operation in achieving the United Nation
Millennium Goals - achieving just 3/10 in the
areas of the environment, human rights and
peace and security.
A report from Friends of the Earth
International [3] released ahead of the WTO
Cancun meeting showed that big business,
rather than helping achieve the ideals set
out in the Millennium goals, is damaging the
environment and local communities. Friends of
the Earth is demanding international rules to
make big business accountable for its
behaviour [4].
"It is time big business was held to
account. The World Economic Forum is keen to
show that it is acting for the greater good,
but even their own reports expose the
reality. We need global regulations to ensure
that companies do not put profit above the
needs of the environment and local
communities," added Tony Juniper.
For more information contact Friends of
the Earth in Davos:
Tony Juniper +44-(0) 7712 843 207
(mobile)
Nur Hidayati and Miriam Behrens +41 79
2160206 (mobile)
Craig Bennett +44-(0)7720147280 (mobile)
Notes:
[1] The World Economic Forum Annual
Meeting takes place in Davos from 21st - 25th
January 2004. See www.weforum.org
[2] See www.weform.org/globalgovernance
[3] See
http://www.foei.org/publications/pdfs/businessrules.pdf
[4] See
http://www.foei.org/corporates/index.html
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