MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 26, 2003

Montreal WTO Mini-Ministerial deemed undemocratic

OTTAWA, July 26, 2003 - The WTO mini-ministerial, set to begin in Montreal on Monday, is an undemocratic process where the Quad (Canada, US, EU, Japan) are working behind the doors to ensure their agenda once again prevails at the next Ministerial Conference, in Cancun.

To the CFWTO, the Montreal meeting will attempt to divide and conquer the group of developing countries that opposes launching negotiations for agreements on the Singapore issues (investment, government procurement, competition policy and trade facilitation) in Cancun. The Canadian coalition also believes that the Quad and a few of their allies will offer developing countries minor concessions on agriculture and the TRIPS Agreement in order to gain support for the launch of negotiations on investments, leading towards a new Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) as well as on other Singapore Issues.

The Montreal mini-ministerial is viewed by many trade experts, including Canadian Minister of International Trade Pierre Pettigrew, as the ultimate chance to put the international free trade negotiations on track. Besides the Singapore issues, agriculture and intellectual property rights are potential deal-breakers. It is the view of the CFWTO that by including only a handful of trade ministers, the Montreal meeting is attempting to mollify the resistance offered by the developing world on these issues.

"This is Doha all over again", said Maude Barlow, of the Council of Canadians referring to the process leading to the previous WTO ministerial conference in Qatar. "Prior to Doha, a handful of WTO members, including Canada, met and drafted a ministerial text that was presented as a 'consensus' for everyone to adopt."

"Large trading powers and large corporations have been able to negotiate effectively at the WTO, protecting their interests and imposing their preferences on weaker members," says Gerry Barr, President and CEO of the Canadian Council for international Co-operation. "Canada should be advocating for the democratization of the WTO to ensure equal and effective participation of developing countries. Instead, here in Montreal, we can see this lack of democracy at work with the exclusive Mini-Ministerial where poor countries, once again, are left out and prevented from having a say."

An August 2002 leaked copy of Canada's post-Doha WTO position demonstrates that Canada is clearly siding with Washington and working against the poor majority in the WTO, which are advocating for development issues to be addressed in Cancun.

The Memorandum states: "Acceding to these requests would have serious implications for the structure and nature of the global trading system." In fact, the Canadian government vows to "isolate hard-line opponents" (India and the Africa block) in Cancun.

The Common Front on the World Trade Organisation (CFWTO) is a Canadian coalition of about twenty large civil society organisations in Canada.

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