Trade & The Financial Crisis

Global Civil Society letter on the Nairobi Ministerial of the World Trade Organization (WTO), December 9, 2015

9 December, 2015
As members of 453 civil society organizations including trade unions, environmentalists, farmers, development advocates, and public interest groups from over 150 countries, we are writing today to express extreme alarm about the current situation of the negotiations in the WTO. We urge you to take seriously the need for the upcoming Nairobi Ministerial to change existing WTO rules to make the global trading system more compatible with people-centered development, and to forestall efforts by some developed countries to abandon the development agenda and replace it with a set of so-called “new issues” that actually are non-trade issues that would impact deeply on domestic economies and constrain national policy space required for development and public interest.

LEAKED: How the Biggest Banks Are Conspiring to Rip Up Financial Regulations around the World

2 July, 2015
It’s almost impossible to keep anything secret these days – not even the core text of a hyper-secret trade deal, the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA), which has spent the last two years taking shape behind the hermetically sealed doors of highly secure locations around the world. According to the agreement’s provisional text, the document is supposed to remain confidential and concealed from public view for at least five years after being signed! But now, thanks to WikiLeaks, it has seeped to the surface.

Wikileaks Expose Secret Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Services Annex

19 June, 2014
The WikiLeaks just published the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) - Financial Service annex text. It confirms the concerns expressed by civil society organizations on TISA.

Secret TISA deal puts public services at risk around the world - Public Services International

19 June, 2014
The Public Services International, a global trade union federation reiterates its opposition to Trade In Services Agreement, in the backdrop of WikiLeaks release of TISA - Financial Services Annex text

Why International “Trade in Services Agreement” (TISA) is Dangerous to Democracy, Development, and the Public Interest, and Must Be Stopped!

14 June, 2014
A memo on International “Trade in Services Agreement” (TISA) that provides details as to why this proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services is dangerous to democracy, development, and the public interest, and must be stopped!

International Civil Society Sends Letter to Governments Opposing Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)”

16 September, 2013
Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), 341 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people from nearly every developing and developed country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), and the ATTAC European network. The letter was organized by the OWINFS network.

No to Liberalization/Deregulation at WTO: Letter to G-20 Finance Ministers

13 April, 2011
14 April, 2011

Dear G-20 Finance Ministers:

As you gather in Washington, D.C. to address pressing issues facing the global economy, we call on you to safeguard governments’ ability to implement policies that will reestablish and maintain financial stability in the wake of the worst financial and economic crisis in decades.

 

Global Turn Around!

1 April, 2010
2 April, 2010
A call to unite and confront the converging global crises of our times, replace the trade and investment pacts and related juggernauts of the corporate-driven global economy, and start building a sustainable economic future together.

Pronunciamiento de la ASC ante la nueva cumbre ministerial de la OMC

30 November, 2009

Entre el 30 de noviembre y el 2 de diciembre de 2009 se realizará en Ginebra la VII reunión ministerial de la OMC. Será un nuevo esfuerzo de reanudar las negociaciones de la Ronda de Doha, iniciada hace 8 años, y un escenario donde los países desarrollados nuevamente intentarán imponer su propia agenda de liberalización y desregulación de los mercados.

UN Economic Conference to receive agreed outcome draft text

25 June, 2009

New York, 24 Jun (Meena Raman) -- The UN Conference on the "World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development" opens Wednesday morning with speeches by UN dignitaries and some political leaders that have gathered here to discuss ways and means to address the crisis.

However, the main event will be whether a Main Committee decides to adopt a draft outcome document that has been transmitted to it by diplomats who have been negotiating intensely in the past few months.

Mideast leaders defend free market at economic forum

17 May, 2009
Despite capitalism's recently damaged reputation, participants at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East this weekend agreed that minimal regulation was key to growth.

WTO Turnaround 2013: Food, Jobs and Sustainable Development First – Statement

After many failed Ministerial meetings and nearly twelve years of negotiations, the Doha Round of WTO expansion is at a crossroads. Developed countries have pushed aside agreements to negotiate on key developing country issues intended to correct the imbalances within the existing WTO, which formed the basis of the development mandate of Doha. Even worse, developed countries appear to be re-packaging the same liberalization and market access demands of their corporate interests to create a “new trade narrative” towards gaining agreements at the upcoming 9th Ministerial in Bali. In this statement with specific demands Our World Is Not for Sale (OWINFS) network asserts that in addition to a long-term transformation of the global trade and economic architecture, immediate changes must be made to WTO in order to provide countries more policy space to pursue a positive agenda for development and job-creation, food security, sustainable development, access to affordable healthcare and medicines, and global financial stability.

Global Civil Society Calls on Governments to Strengthen, Not Weaken, UNCTAD’s Role in Global Governance

Sign-on Letter with 38 International and 137 National Organizations from Across the Globe Delivered to Negotiators at UNCTAD XIII in Doha

Today, global civil society delivered a letter that calls on negotiators at the 13th quadrennial conference of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD XIII, to ensure that conference strengthens UNCTAD’s role on keys issues of global economic governance and financial reform.

The letter reads, in part:

International Civil Society Sends Letter to Governments Opposing Proposed “Trade in Services Agreement (TISA)”

Today, as governments meet in Geneva to negotiate a proposed Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), 345 organizations representing hundreds of thousands of people from nearly every developing and developed country, called on governments to abandon the talks. Among the endorsers were 42 major international and regional networks such as Public Services International (PSI), UNI Global Union, the European Federation of Public Services Unions (EPSU), the IndustriALL Global Union, the International Union of Food and Allied Workers (IUF), and the ATTAC European network. The letter was organized by the OWINFS network.