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Analytical Note, December 2011

This Analytical Note provides an overview of the following: issues at stake in MC8 for developing countries and key messages for Ministers; the state of play including the main events that took place in the production of the ‘Elements for Political Guidance’ text; the legal status of the Chairman’s Statement as the outcome document of the Ministerial; important process issues to be mindful of during the Ministerial; a detailed look at the issues in the ‘Elements for Political Guidance’ text; and a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the ‘Elements’ text.

Tout au long de ses 15 années d’existence, l’OMC a fixé les normes du commerce mondial en faveur du pouvoir et des profits des entreprises, au grand dam des travailleurs, des agriculteurs et de l’environnement, et mettant en péril la souveraineté des pays du monde entier. Le programme des négociations destinées à élargir l’OMC (qu’on appelle Cycle de Doha) était inapproprié quand il fut lancé en 2001, mais il l’est encore davantage aujourd’hui, au vu des répercussions des crises mondiales actuelles.

Inexplicably, the WTO has yet again announced an accelerated schedule of negotiations this spring, after some governments agreed at the November 2010 meetings of the G20 to push for a conclusion the Doha Round of WTO expansion negotiations in 2011. OWINFS encourages social movements and civil society organizations concerned about the impacts of the WTO on workers, farmers, women, the environment, and our future, to organize national pressure immediately on your Trade Minister and other national officials!

The G20 is an unelected and select group of countries whose membership was originally drawn in response to the financial crises of the 1990s.1 The group came to its current position of prominence as a result of the latest wave of crises starting in 2007, as it had become clear that the G8 were incapable of responding without the collaboration of those from outside their number. The G20 has illegitimately proclaimed itself to be the premier forum of global economic governance for the future. In particular, the G20 seeks to dictate which bodies should be entrusted with responsibility for policing the global economy on its behalf. The G20’s policy agenda is driven primarily by the interests of global capital, as business leaders meet regularly in closed session with G20 ministers in the run-up to the G20 summits.G20 is trying to promote further liberalisation of trade, investment, finance and public services as a solution to the crisis. Recognizing that profound and fundamental change to the system is the ONLY solution to the crisis, member organisations and social movements of Our World Is Not For Sale make the following demands:

Dear Colleagues,
The fifth G20 Summit will be held in Seoul on November 11th to 12th. This meeting has grave consequences for the people of Korea and the entire world. The G20 has appointed itself the principal body responsible for finding a solution to the global economic crisis and managing the world economy. Yet it excludes the majority of poor and developing nations from decision-making. It also seeks to make common people shoulder the burden of the crisis and to promote neoliberal policies, which have already created vast poverty and increased inequality. In addition, the South Korean government is using the upcoming summit as an excuse to severely restrict democratic rights and carry out a crackdown on migrants, street vendors and homeless people.

Trade Unions in the Americas urge governments and trade negotiators gathered in Geneva to fulfill the commitments of the Global Jobs Pact
Victor Baez*

The trade union organizations affiliated to the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) have been closely following the Doha Round negotiations since they were reactivated in 2007. The trade union movement remains mobilized before the 7th WTO Ministerial Conference in Geneva.

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.

L'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) se prépare pour sa 7e conférence ministérielle qui se déroulera du 30 novembre au 2 décembre 2009 à Genève. Tandis que les ministres du commerce font leur valise, certains doivent se demander si le voyage vaut la peine. Plus d’un an après l’effondrement de la rencontre mini-ministérielle de juillet 2008, les négociations de Doha n’ont pas avancé d’un iota. Elles auraient même reculé, d’après certains représentants de pays en développement.

WTO+10: Before 1999, the momentum of globalization seemed to sweep everything in front of it, including the truth. But in Seattle, ordinary women and men made truth real with collective action.

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.