G4 process is undemocratic, No WTO deal in Potsdam!

international | anti-capitalism | press release Sunday July 08, 2007 13:19 by Stop the New Round Coalition

Trade ministers of the G4 countries (the European Union, the United States, Brazil and India) are meeting in Potsdam, Germany, this week try to stitch together a trade deal to which each of them could agree.

WTO tradition indicates that if they are successful, they will attempt to present this deal as a fait accompli that other countries must accept if the multilateral trading system is to survive. In practice, this would mean that many smaller developing countries (the majority of the WTO's members), that have been excluded from these negotiations, could be forced into accepting a deal that could wreak havoc on their economies and the environment and undermine their democracies. In particular, the livelihoods of millions of farmers worldwide are at stake.

Such a process would be totally untransparent and undemocratic. We demand an immediate stop to the G4 meeting and the start of an open and transparent assessment of the impacts of WTO Agreements on people's livelihoods and the environment.

Signatories (in alphabetical order):

Action Aid International
Africa Europe Faith and Justice Network (International Organization)
Alliance of Progressive Labor, Philippines - http://www.apl.org.ph/
Andean Coordination of Indigenous Organizations, Latin America
Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), Lebanon
ATTAC Austria
ATTAC France
ATTAC Hungary
ATTAC Japan
ATTAC Norway
ATTAC Sweden
ATTAC Switzerland
Austrian Community of Interest for Emancipatory Global Education, Austria
Blue Planet Project, Canada
Both ENDS, the Netherlands
Brazilian Network for the Integration of Peoples (REBRIP), Brazil
Camille Chalmers - PAPDA, Haiti
Campaign for the Welfare State, Norway
Caribbean Assembly of Peoples, Caribbean
Center for Human Rights in Tepeyac, Istmo de Tehuantepec, Mexico
Center for Encounter and Active Non-Violence, Austria
Centre for Indigenous Peoples of Indus, Pakistan
Consumer Rights Forum, Pakistan
Consumers Association of Penang, Malaysia
Ecologists in Action, Spain
Economic Justice and Development Organization, Pakistan
Focus on the Global South - http://www.focusweb.org/
Foundation for Gaia, UK
Friends of the Earth International (International Organization)
Friends of the Earth Australia
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Friends of the Earth Malaysia
Global Forest Coalition (International Organization)
Global Women March, Peru
Global Network Asia (trade union and NGO alliance on globalization).
Greenpeace (International Organization)
Group on Gender and Economy, Peru
Hemispheric Social Alliance, Latin America
Holistic Understanding for Justified Research and Action, Pakistan
Humanitarian Group for Social Development, Lebanon
In Service of Peace and Justice, Paraguay
Initiative Colibri, Germany
Insan Foundation, Pakistan
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), U.S.
Institute for Global Justice, Indonesia
International Gender and Trade Network
Kilusang Mangingisda (Fisherpeoples Organization), Philippines
Korea Labour and Society Institute, Korea
Latin American Association of Micro, Small and Médium Enterprises, Mexico
Mesa Global, Guatemala
Mexican Action Network Against Free Trade (RMALC), Mexico
Millennium Solidarity, Switzerland
Network of Women Transforming the Economy, Latin America
NOAH - Friends of the Earth, Denmark
Oakland Institute, USA
Pakistan Rural Workers Social Welfare Organization, Pakistan
Polaris Institute, Canada
Public Services International
Québec Federation of Professors, Canada
SEATINI Geneva, Swizterland
Shout of the Excluded, Latin America
Solidarité, France
Stop the New Round Coalition, Philippines
Transnational Institute
Via Campesina, International
War on Want, UK
Who Owes Who Campaign, Spain
WIDE, Europe
World Economy, Ecology & Development (WEED), Germany
X minus Y Solidarity Fund, the Netherlands

Jun 20, 2007