News

The U.S. needs a new deal on trade with more opportunities for American exports

30 November, 2009
The Times
FOR weeks before the 1999 World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting in Seattle, state and local authorities had known that peaceful protests were being planned around the Washington State Convention & Trade Center. But as I drove through downtown on the night of Nov. 29 and saw waves of people returning from a rally waving placards, I got a sinking feeling that the anti-trade sentiment was stronger than people had anticipated. Was it ever.

Informal Group of Developing Countries COMMUNIQUE November 30, 2009

30 November, 2009
Informal Group of Developing Countries
We, Ministers of the informal Group of Developing Countries met in Geneva on 30 November 2009 on the occasion of the 7th WTO Ministerial Conference, to coordinate positions and assess the ramifications of the rapidly changing international trading environment on our countries’ interests;

G-10 COMMUNIQUE: November 30, 2009

30 November, 2009
G-10
Ministers of the G-10 met in Geneva today (Monday 30 November 2009) ahead of the 7th Session of the WTO Ministerial conference that will start this afternoon. They assessed the state of play of the DDA negotiations and their priorities in the negotiations on agriculture.

G-20 COMMUNIQUE November 29, 2009

29 November, 2009
G-20
On the occasion of the VII WTO Ministerial Conference, the Ministers of the G-20 met in Geneva on 29 November 2009 to discuss the state of the play of the WTO Doha Round negotiations.

Genova: Lovely Planet Tour

29 November, 2009
FAIR
At the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/45107258@N06/sets/72157622773196743/ a photo from Genova about the Lovely Planet Tour, the format we adopted to raise awareness of media and citizen about how our cities are changing due to the liberalizations pushed by WTO and how we are applying concrete solutions to address those violations around the country with organic agriculture, critical consumption, reduction of emissions in productions, fair trade and so on.

International Gender and Trade Network at the WTO Ministerial in Geneva

29 November, 2009
IGTN

International Gender and Trade Network at the WTO Ministerial in Geneva

30 Nov – 2 Dec 2009

Nothing more could attest to the failure of the neoliberal dogma than the current global crises. Pure faith in the market as the sole and most efficient allocator of resources for society has dominated all aspects of economic policy (finance, trade, investments, public services delivery) and had negative consequences on people’s lives across nations, classes, ethnicities and gender. 

WTO Wirodhi Bharatiya Jan Abhiyan: Statement on the Eve of 7th WTO Ministerial in Geneva

29 November, 2009
WTO Wirodhi Bharatiya Jan Abhiyan
The negotiations in various negotiating groups in Geneva are proceeding in a non-transparent manner. However, there are reasons to believe that India has substantially moved away from its earlier position, particularly in regard to Agriculture as well as NAMA (Non-Agricultural Market Access) and is virtually ready to accept what was dramatically rejected by the erstwhile Commerce Minister Kamal Nath less than a year ago under the UPA-I. The reasons for such a volte face are not known. The statements emanating from government spokespersons give the impression that ground is being prepared for justifying such an eventuality.

OWINFS PRESS RELEASE: 10 years after Seattle, WTO protests worldwide, no WTO expansion, Korean activists detained

28 November, 2009
OWINFS
Members of the global network Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) held a press briefing this morning to object the undemocratic detention of Korean activists coming to Geneva, and to demand their immediate release. OWINFS also introduced the objectives of mobilizations around the WTO ministerial in Geneva and around the world, including the mobilizations in India, Indonesia, Korea, Europe, and the United States.

Police, protesters clash ahead of WTO conference

28 November, 2009
Agence France-Presse

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26415945-23109,00.html
Police, protesters clash ahead of WTO conference
From correspondents in Geneva
Agence France-Presse
November 29, 2009 04:55am

SWISS police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at hooded protesters who broke windows and set cars alight during a demonstration ahead of a major WTO conference in Geneva.

WTO Geneva Summit Prefaced by Riot

28 November, 2009
CBS/AP

Cars Burned, Windows Broken in Protest of World Trade Meeting; Police Respond With Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets; 14 ArrestedCBS/AP)  Police with water cannon fired tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday to separate violent demonstrators from a protest opposing a meeting of top world trade officials, but the hooded "black bloc" activists were able to cause damage before 14 were arrested, spokesmen said.

Senior Chinese Official Criticizes U.S. bilaterals on Doha, Sees No Room to Meet

27 November, 2009
Daily News
Geneva -- A senior Chinese official has strongly criticized as ineffective and counterproductive to the multilateral Doha round negotiations a U.S. effort to extract more market access concessions from key countries in bilateral meetings.

COP15: Agriculture and climate change: real problems, false solutions

27 November, 2009
EcoNexus, Biofuelwatch, Grupo de Reflexion Rural, NOAH - Friends of the Earth Denmark, and The Development Fund Norway

The report looks at current carbon trading proposals for agriculture, especially soils. Some of the false solutions being proposed for climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture are analysed, including what is behind them and who is promoting them.

MULTILATERALISM 2.0 – will trade ministers take up the challenge?

26 November, 2009
IATP
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is getting ready for its 7th ministerial conference, to take place from November 30 to December 2, 2009 in Geneva. As trade ministers pack their suitcases, a few of them must be asking questions about the value of the trip. More than a year after the July 2008 mini-ministerial collapsed in acrimony, the Doha talks have not moved an inch – except to go backwards, according to some developing country representatives.

South Centre’s Papers on the WTO for the Seventh

26 November, 2009
South Centre
The South Centre is pleased to announce the publication of the following documents for the Seventh WTO Ministerial Conference.

Inside U.S. trade - Finance Fails To Vote On USTR Punke, Siddiqui Nominations

25 November, 2009
Daily News
The Senate Finance Committee did not vote on the nominations of Michael Punke to be Deputy U.S. Trade Representative and Islam Siddiqui to be chief agriculture negotiator at USTR on Saturday, November 21.

Time to kill off Doha, Pascal Lamy is wrong: the Doha round of talks offers nothing to the world's poorest countries. The WTO has failed to deliver

25 November, 2009
The Guardian

Monday 30 November marks the 10th anniversary of the Battle in Seattle, the day in 1999 when 100,000 protesters took to the streets and prevented the World Trade Organisation from launching its millennium round of free trade talks. The WTO is marking the occasion with another ministerial summit, and is understandably nervous – not because it fears another spectacular uprising (the summit is being held in genteel Geneva) but because the future of the WTO as a credible institution once again hangs in the balance.

Action Press Release: The European Union Must Stop False Solutions to Climate Change

25 November, 2009
Eleven days before the fifteenth Conference of the Parties under the United Nations’ Climate Change Convention that will be held in Copenhagen between the 7th and the 18th of December, an issue which remains controversial is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) between the European Union and the Indonesian government, designed to support trade liberalisation between the two region as well as increase cooperation in the mitigation of climate change, in part through the provision of 550 million Euros of funding.

Change Trade, Not our Climate!

6 October, 2009
Ronnie Hall
One way or another change is on the way: if we don’t change the rules of the global economy we won’t be able to limit climate change.

India Betrays Farmers and Workers by Endorsing WTO December Texts; Mini-Ministerial Results in More US Demands

4 September, 2009
The much hyped Delhi mini-ministerial ended today with most developing country delegates saying that it was business as usual with negotiations going back to Geneva and Chairs of the Negotiating Committees of the Doha Round. However, Indian Commerce Minister Sharma summarized the meeting by saying that both the G20 and the G33, "were of the view that the texts of December 2008 must form the basis of future work."

"Mini-Ministerial Meeting Should Change WTO Tack on Food"

3 September, 2009
Inter Press Service News Agency
A group of 125 non-governmental organisations from 50 countries is calling on the governments participating in the mini-ministerial trade talks in India over the next two days to reject the further liberalisation of food and rather promote policies that will achieve food security and rural development and safeguard farmers’ livelihoods. The organisations, of which 13 are in Africa, argue in a letter to the 36 countries attending the mini-ministerial meeting that the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) policies have resulted in "a failed global agricultural system including extremely volatile commodities markets, a lack of global access to nutritious and affordable food, an increase in hunger, and the erosion of farmers’ incomes.