[ssf] [Fwd: [GATScrit] GATS negotiation Action Alert]

[Chris Malins]

Shall we put the name of the SSF to this call for action? In many ways 
it epitomises the issues of civil society involvement in decision making 
that we come up against on more local fronts like Burngreave.

Chris

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [GATScrit] GATS negotiation Action Alert
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 11:30:13 +0100
From: Marianne Hochuli <trade at evb.ch>
To: <GATSCrit at yahoogroups.com>







Zurich, 15 February 2005
Dear Friends,
in the ongoing GATS negotiations in Geneva, the WTO is offering to the 
"Financial Leaders Group" an incredible one-sided PR-platform. The NGOs 
which have been at a media conference in Geneva last Friday think, this 
is just awful. So I have drafted a letter to Mr. Supachai and would be 
very glad to hear your opinion.
I think it would be at least a strong sign if civil society would react 
to that. I wait for your reactions. In case you support this letter, 
please sign with your Organisation, Name and country.

Thank you very much and best regards, Marianne Hochuli, The Berne 
Declaration, Switzerland



GATS: WTO negotiations on services in Geneva
Civil society protests against WTO offering a one-sided platform for 
business lobby

Dear Mr. Supachai Panitchpakdi

At present, intensive negotiations in the services sector are taking 
place in Geneva. Representatives of the business lobby were cordially 
invited to the three week negotiations. NGOs pleading for fair and 
locally adapted trade regulations were not admitted.

In the course of the negotiations on services taking place in Geneva, 
the lobby of the finance sector is particularly active. As an example, 
the group called "The Financial Leaders Group" (consisting of more than 
40 CEOs of leading banks and insurance companies) arranged for a series 
of bilateral meetings at WTO with representatives of industrial and 
developing countries. They also offered a seminar on the subject of "The 
benefit of a deregulated financial market for developing countries" as a 
reaction of the Financial Leaders to the rather reluctant liberalization 
offers of developing countries. Civil society groups protest against 
this one-sided PR platform, which the WTO is offering to the services 
industry.

This propagates the misleading idea that what is good for business of a 
few  must also be the best development policy solution for a country. It 
is precisely a liberalized and deregulated Financial market which may 
lead to the weakening of the financial structure of a country (cf Asia 
crisis 1997/98). There is also a risk that the access to loans for 
poorer people will be limited. Even institutions such as the 
International Monetary Fund, who basically favor an opening of the 
finance sector, make it clear that first of all a country needs 
institutions and regulatory standards to guarantee an efficient 
supervision of banks.

We call on you to stop this kind of one sided business propaganda and to 
offer delegates instead the necessary space to define the best solution 
for a development policy. It is not enough to organize a yearly public 
symposium while giving a one-sided platform to business representatives 
during crucial negotiations in Geneva.

We thank you for taking our concerns seriously.

With kind regards,
many organizations......












Erklärung von Bern - Berne Declaration
Marianne Hochuli
Postfach, Quellenstrasse 25, CH-8031 Zürich
e-mail: trade at evb.ch
Tel. direkt ++41/(0)1- 277 70 11
FAX ++41/(0)1- 277 70 01
website http//www.evb.ch
Spendenkonto  80-8885-4








Erklärung von Bern - Berne Declaration
Marianne Hochuli
Postfach, Quellenstrasse 25, CH-8031 Zürich
e-mail: trade at evb.ch
Tel. direkt ++41/(0)1- 277 70 11
FAX ++41/(0)1- 277 70 01
website http//www.evb.ch
Spendenkonto  80-8885-4

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