Friends of the Earth International
Media Advisory
cancún to saõ paulo
will developing countries gain ground in
trade and development talks?
Friends of the Earth International today
urged developing countries to stand their
ground at a key United Nations conference
focusing on trade and development [1]. After
flexing their muscles during WTO Ministerial
meetings in Seattle and Cancún [2] - by
refusing to accept EU proposals that would
have dramatically expanded both the scope and
power of the World Trade Organisation [3] -
developing countries now have an opportunity
to demonstrate that the global balance of
power is shifting in their favour [4].
Developing countries should start by
insisting that UNCTAD XI includes:
-
agreement to negotiate new and binding
international legislation to regulate the
activities of transnational corporations
[5];
-
international recognition of the G77's
existing position that the North owes an
ecological debt to the South [6];
-
protection of governments' right to
protect their citizens and environment
using national legislation [7];
-
recognition of people's food
sovereignty, which includes the right to
protect domestic agricultural markets
[8].
Friends of the Earth International
Campaigner Meena Raman said:
"Now is the time for developing
countries to stand united, ignoring all
diversionary tactics. If they want fair and
sustainable economies for all, then pride
of place at UNCTAD XI must go to reversing
debt, restoring democracy and restraining
the activities of market-hungry
transnationals."
Notes:
[1] The UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) convenes a Ministerial
meeting once every four years. UNCTAD XI will
be held in Saõ Paulo, Brazil, 13-18 June
2004. As UNCTAD's own website puts it, in its
introduction to the 2004 gathering: "The
one-size-fits-all approach to development has
failed, multilateralism is in crisis, and
there is a profound mismatch between the
pursuit of national interests on the one hand
and the broader goals of the international
trading system on the other. Countries
lacking the goods and services to compete in
world trade have little to gain from the
multilateral negotiations now underway."
[2] The WTO's Third and Fifth Ministerial
conferences, in Seattle and Cancun
respectively, both collapsed with no outcome,
following negotiating battles between
industrialised and developing countries. In
essence, the developing countries refused
point blank to sign up to negotiations on the
'new' or 'Singapore' issues on investment,
competition, trade facilitation and
transparency in government procurement, which
were being pushed aggressively by the EU.
[3] The inclusion of these 'new issues'
(see footnote 2) would dramatically expand
the reach of the WTO. It would give
transnational companies extensive access to
new markets in developing countries; and
restrict the ability of developing countries
to control and direct incoming investment.
Although all the issues except trade
facilitation now appear to be 'off' the table
(ie out of the Doha negotiating package), the
EU is still pursuing them 'plurilaterally'
within the WTO.
[4] The G90 group of developing countries
is expected to announce the start of a new
round of South-South only trade negotiations
at UNCTAD XI. Although this is formally said
not to conflict with negotiations in the WTO,
the fact that this will open a country's
markets to other developing countries only,
will de facto exclude EU and US interests.
(However, South-South free trade could hold
many of the drawbacks of international free
trade.) Developing countries could also
demonstrate their unity through the proposals
made above.
[5] The G77 call for "binding codes of
conduct for TNCs", in Paragraph 32 of the
pre-Conference Negotiating Text (Chapeaux
Working Paper No 2, 25 March 2004), has been
virtually eliminated from the current
negotiating text, because of opposition from
the US. (There is one remaining but bracketed
reference to 'accountability' in Paragraph
90). Nevertheless, all text concerning
corporations remains in brackets, indicating
that this remains one of the most
controversial issues on the table.
[6] UNCTAD is mandated to consider the
impact of trade on development. The
ecological debt which has been incurred by
the countries of the North - through the
importation of under-priced natural resources
from the South - is therefore highly
relevant. The G77 could push to include its
already agreed position on ecological debt
(as set out in the Declaration of the South
Summit, Havana, Cuba, 10-14 April 2000). (See
http://www.foei.org/ecodebt/index.html for
further details about ecological debt.)
[7] A key focus for UNCTAD negotiations
centres on paragraph 8 of the current text,
which concerns 'policy space'. Developing
countries are increasingly worried that
international commitments are progressively
stripping them of their ability to develop
national policies to promote development.
(However, the same concern also applies to
legislation designed to protect the
environment, promote workers' rights etc.
Concerns about 'policy space' have been
raised by civil society for many years).
[8] UNCTAD XI comes just weeks before the
WTO's next negotiating deadline at the end of
July. UNCTAD outcomes are therefore relevant
to the negotiating dynamic within the WTO;
and many trade negotiations are also taking
place in Saõ Paulo on the sidelines. Key to
the trade negotiations are countries'
positions on agriculture. The US and the EU
seem to be attempting to divide developing
countries into those with offensive interests
(market access, primarily the G20) and those
concerned to protect their domestic markets
from dumping (G33). Thus the unity that
developing countries show in Brazil - on all
issues, including agriculture - could have a
profound impact on WTO negotiations. The most
progressive stance that countries could take
on agriculture would be to promote people's
food sovereignty, which includes food
security, food safety, diverse sustainable
agricultural practices, and subsistence and
small-scale farming. (For more information
see Trade and people's Food Sovereignty at
www.foei.org/publications/trade/
.)
Contact:
In Brazil:
Meena Raman/ Sahabat Alam Malaysia,
Friends of the Earth Malaysia in Brazil, +55
21 81916457
In UK:
Ronnie Hall, Friends of the Earth
International + 44 (0)7967 017281
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