archives: WTO InfoWTO WG on investment press release Jun 9
DIVISIONS ON INVESTMENT THREATEN WTO AGREEMENT
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/divisions_on_investment_th.htmlInternal WTO documents circulated for tomorrow's WTO Working Group on Investment meeting show deep divisions between countries on how, or even if, to proceed with controversial discussions on an WTO agreement for liberalising foreign investment. The meeting, the last on investment before September's WTO Ministerial in Cancun, Mexico, could stall the talks if clear consensus cannot be found, dealing a severe blow to any hopes of getting any agreement on the full "Doha" WTO agenda.
The WTO investment agreement is highly controversial because of doubt over whether it will bring about more investment, let alone help alleviate poverty, improve economies, or promote sustainable development. It will also restrict countries' abilities to control foreign investment and regulate their own economies. There are suspicions that the agenda is being driven by big business, as it is being promoted by countries with multinationals who are responsible for most foreign investment, rather than by the needs and demands of the developing countries.
Significantly, there are clear differences between the EU's support for WTO investment negotiations and other countries' suggestions that the WTO is not even the appropriate venue for such an agreement. A number of developing countries have repeatedly reinforced their opposition to such an agreement and have instead called for the issue of global corporate accountability regulation to be addressed. Friends of the Earth said the WTO must now admit that the gulf is impossible to bridge.
Friends of the Earth Policy and Campaigns Director Liana Stupples said:
"The EU is blindly pushing for a WTO agreement on investment even though it will not work and is strongly opposed by the majority of the world. It is time they wised up that the wishes of big business investors cannot be forced onto an unwilling world."
Notes:
[1] After engineering a dubious vote at the Doha ministerial on a text developed without the input of all players, supporters of a WTO investment agreement, led by the EU, claimed a strategic victory. However, disquiet among some countries resulted in a request for clarification from the Chair in Doha, which stated that negotiations could not begin unless there was "explicit consensus" in Cancun to do so. This was later reinforced by an independent legal opinion sought by Oxfam Janurary 2002.
[2] A formal submission from India, China, Kenya, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Pakistan on 19 November 2002 (WTO reference WT/WGTI/W/152) announced their opposition to a WTO investment agreement. Among numerous concerns, the submission emphasizes the pressing need for any such agreement to provide strong responsibilities for multinational companies and their home countries to balance the new rights such an agreement would confer - a move strongly resisted by the EU.
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