G4 process is undemocratic, No WTO deal in Potsdam!

by Stop the New Round Coalition Friday, Jul. 06, 2007 at 11:01 PM

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 (International Organization)

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

Original: G4 process is undemocratic, No WTO deal in Potsdam!