STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
| STOP MAI |
Authorised
by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Affiliated
with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network
(AFTInet) |
MAI treaty negotiations continue in secret
A question in the New Zealand Parliament has lifted the lid on previously undisclosed negotiations involving Australia, aimed at concluding the OECD’s controversial MAI treaty.
Reporter Cathie Birch wrote in the Wellington Dominion, 21 September: "Government officials have resumed talks about the Multilateral Agreement on Investment three months after the Cabinet issued instructions for a "pause" in negotiations.
Treasurer and Finance Minister Bill Birch said in response to a written parliamentary question from Alliance leader Jim Anderton that the first meeting with other countries' officials about the agreement had been held in Wellington at the end of July.
Officials from the Treasury and Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry had talked about the agreement with a Canadian foreign affairs and international trade department official when he was in Wellington for air services negotiations, because the official was also Canada's chief negotiator on the agreement, he said.
Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry officials also took the opportunity of regular annual discussions with their Australian counterparts on multilateral trade issues to discuss Australia's views on the agreement at a meeting in Canberra on August 20.
"On the same day, the foreign affairs and trade ministry officials met with Australian Treasury officials to discuss Australian views on the Multilateral Agreement on Investment," Mr Birch said.
A spokesperson for the Stop MAI (WA) campaign coalition, Mr Brian Jenkins, said the October resumption of MAI talks in Paris was expected to lead to a further meeting in April with the aim of concluding the agreement before the World Trade Organisation started its next trade-liberalisation round. Stop MAI was continuing to lobby Australian parliamentarians and OECD negotiators, he said.
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PHONE CONTACTS: Brian Jenkins +61 8 9528 1864; Dion Giles 0411 745 538