STOP MAI

MEDIA RELEASE -for immediate release, 15 September, 2003 Authorised by the STOP-MAI Campaign Coalition (WA) Website http://members.iinet.net.au/~jenks/fair.html Affiliated with the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network (AFTInet) and with the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO)

WTO urgently needs democratic reform

Failure of the World Trade Organisation negotiations at Cancún is a resounding and deserved defeat for the cocky ambitions of rich trading nations, including Australia.

But it is a reprieve rather than a win for developing countries which have again staved off a new round of legalised exploitation.

The rejected draft Ministerial text blatantly disregarded the views of developing countries which form the majority of the WTO's membership. This has unfortunately been the usual pattern but, on this occasion, the bullying tactics failed because of better coordination by third world negotiators.

For many years there have been serious accusations at the process by which WTO resolutions are formulated. Despite the strength of developing country alliances, the rich nations foolishly ignored opposition in seeking to launch negotiations on so-called 'new' issues of investment, government procurement and trade facilitation.

As StopMAI wrote to a Senate inquiry earlier this year, the WTO urgently needs to be reformed and made more transparent and democratic to redress the power imbalances evident in recent WTO Ministerial Conferences.

The Australian Government should be spearheading such reform instead of scrambling for perceived advantage at the expense of the world's poor.

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PHONE CONTACTS: Brian Jenkins +61 8 9528 1864; Dion Giles 0411 745 538