Archive - 2009

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.

I've also just returned from a protest march against the WTO here in Geneva, attended by many people, including activists from many parts of the world.

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.

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;

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.

Bruselas, Bélgica, 1 de Julio 2009 – Mientras la Unión Europea anuncia la suspensión de su nueva ronda de negociaciones comerciales con los países centroamericanos, Amigos de la Tierra Internacional llama a detener todo el proceso de negociaciones de libre comercio que la UE impulsa en América Central, y recomienda un replanteo total por parte de la UE acerca del papel que está jugando en la región.

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. 

As experts dissect the collapse of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Doha round of global trade talks to explain its causes and effects, many are missing how it signals a shift in the sensibilities of people everywhere to end of the era of global free trade and renew government’s rightful role in regulating commerce, especially in the critical areas of fuel, food, and finance.

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.

http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refID=106985

 

 

 

THE G33 MINISTERIAL COMMUNIQUE

29 November 2009