wto trade deal: friends of the earth
international in the media
At the end of July, 2004, the world's
governments agreed the framework for a new trade
system. This page shows extracts of media coverage
of Friends of the Earth International's response to
the deal.
August 1 2004
'Trade Deal Does Not Go Far Enough'
Britain ’s charitable and environmental groups
reacted with dismay today to plans to make world
trade fairer for poor countries – arguing it did
not go far enough.
But Friends of the Earth were unimpressed by the
deal, saying it would prove unfair on the
developing countries and damage the environment
.
“Governments are trading away our environment at
the WTO,” said Alexandra Wandel.
“Corporate lobby groups will be the big winners,
the environment and the poor the big losers.”
Reprinted amongst others in the Scotsman
newspaper:
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3282980
****
'Big trade nations hail WTO breakthrough'
Leading trading nations on Sunday applauded a
breakthrough deal in the Doha global trade round,
saying it would put the stalled talks back on track
and revive confidence in the multilateral trading
system.
Some charitable groups said the agreement did
not go far enough. “The commitment to eliminate
export subsidy credits is missing any substance as
no end date is mentioned,” said Friends of the
Earth.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/838c6b94-e396-11d8-9f08-00000e2511c8.html
****
'Europe Lauds WTO Deal; China Complains'
European economic giants Germany , Britain and
France warmly welcomed a deal Sunday to salvage
world trade talks but China complained developing
countries were not satisfied and an environmental
group hit at "empty promises."
friends of the earth criticism
Environmental group Friends of the Earth
criticized as "empty promises" the concessions made
by Washington and Brussels on agriculture.
"The commitment to eliminate export subsidies
credits is missing any substance as no end date is
mentioned in the text," it said.
The group also called the talks secretive and
undemocratic because non-government organizations
and many countries were unable to sit at the
negotiating table.
****
August 2 2004
'Doha round back on track'
A breakthrough for global trade, or merely an
agreement to agree? Opinions vary, but key nations
did agree to eliminate controversial export
subsidies on agricultural products on 29 June.
"This is really a good day for the world
economy, for Europe and especially developing
countries," said Commissioner for Agriculture Franz
Fischler. However, the exact date is yet to be set,
a fact underlined by NGOs such as Friends of The
Earth.
"The commitment to eliminate export subsidy
credits is missing any substance as no end date is
mentioned," said a statement by Friends of the
Earth.
http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe?204&OIDN=1508096&-tt=cr
****
'World trade deal welcomed'
After five long days of negotiation, trade talks
on Sunday (2 August) came to an end with an
agreement on further liberalisation of world
trade.
Still others are not happy with the agreement at
all.
"If the WTO proceeds on the course just laid
out, these negotiations will pose a serious threat
to people and the environment around the world",
said David Waskow of Friends of the Earth US.
The organisation said that the deal had been
reached after rich countries put intense pressure
on developing countries.
http://www.euobserver.com/?sid=9&aid=17037
****
'International Groups Denounce World Trade
Pact'
While negotiators from the United States and the
European Union (EU) declared victory in rescuing
global trade talks in the early hours on Sunday at
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva,
international non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
denounced the results as a sell-out of poor
countries and the environment.
Friends of the Earth International (FoEI) also
complained about what it called "undemocratic
procedures and intense pressure" from the U.S. and
the EU in the rush to secure a final accord.
"Corporate lobby groups will be the big winners,
the environment and the poor the big losers," said
FoEI's Alexandra Wandel, point in particular to the
agreement on Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA),
a part of the framework accord which calls for the
liberalization of all natural resources,
particularly in fisheries, gems, and mining. NAMA
would make it much more difficult for developing
countries to protect these resources from foreign
investors or collect revenue from their export.
"The NAMA agreement could further deepen the
de-industrialization crisis in these countries,
thus accelerating unemployment and poverty and
forcing countries to rely heavily on unsustainable
and harmful exports of natural resources."
At the same time, FoEI charged that the
"so-called concessions" made by the EU and the U.S.
in agricultural negotiations - a commitment to cut
some farm subsidies by 20 percent - may "turn out
to be empty promises."
"The commitment to eliminate export subsidies
credits is missing any substance as no end-date is
mentioned in the text," the Brussels-based group
said. "On domestic support for agriculture,
language in the framework agreement clearly opens
the door for the EU and the U.S. to maintain nearly
their entire level of current subsidies and to use
these to continue the dumping of agricultural goods
in developing-country markets. At the same time,
developing countries could be forced to give up
import protections used to achieve food
sovereignty."
http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/91015/1/3319
****
'Trade talks no help to poor'
BRITAIN ’S charitable and environmental groups
reacted with dismay yesterday to plans to make
world trade fairer for poor countries - arguing it
did not go far enough.
However, Friends of the Earth was unimpressed by
the deal, saying it would prove unfair on the
developing countries and damage the
environment.
"Governments are trading away our environment at
the WTO," said Alexandra Wandel, a spokeswoman.
"Corporate lobby groups will be the big winners,
the environment and the poor the big losers."
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=883832004
****
'Farm subsidy deal 'major step forward''
European economic giants Germany , Britain and
France warmly welcomed a deal yesterday to salvage
world trade talks.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth
criticised as "empty promises" the concessions made
by Washington and Brussels on agriculture.
"The commitment to eliminate export subsidies
credits is missing any substance as no end date is
mentioned in the text," it said.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=88249&Sn=BUSI&IssueID=27135
****
'WTO deal fails to win over everyone'
European economic giants Germany , Britain and
France warmly welcomed a deal yesterday to salvage
world trade talks but China complained developing
countries were not satisfied and an environmental
group hit at "empty promises."
Environmental group Friends of the Earth
criticised as "empty promises" the concessions made
by Washington and Brussels on agriculture.
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