MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
December 2, 2009

WTO clings to sinking ship of trade liberalization at 7^th Ministerial, says Council of Canadians

Geneva, December 2, 2009 – Corporate-led globalization and deregulation, widely discredited for its role in producing the current environmental, financial and jobs crises, incredibly survived this week’s 7th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization in Geneva when what the world really needs is a major rethink on how, what and how much we trade, says the Council of Canadians.

“The WTO with its model of unsustainable growth is a major contributor to the multiple crises facing humanity – food security, jobs, climate change, and financial chaos,” said Leo Broderick, vice chair of the Council of Canadians, in Geneva for a civil society counter-summit to the Ministerial organized by Our World Is Not For Sale. “This week in Geneva, the WTO once again failed to produce results that will help millions of working men and women around the world, and the many more millions who are unemployed due to the world financial crisis.”

The Ministerial was not a negotiating round as in Hong Kong in 2005. Under the heading, “The WTO, the Multilateral Trading System and the Current Global Economic Environment,” the meeting was supposed to be a stock taking exercise, and a chance to evaluate the governance and future of the World Trade Organization. But when and how to conclude the Doha round of negotiations, which have little to do with development and more with market access for large economies, including Canada, was the main topic of conversation among members.

“The global social crisis that will result from unchecked climate change, unregulated financial markets and increasing job losses demands radical new thinking on how, what and how much we trade,” says Stuart Trew, trade campaigner with the Council of Canadians, also in Geneva. “Unfortunately, that kind of real ‘taking stock’ exercise was nowhere to be seen in Geneva, and is likely impossible at an organization like the WTO. Instead, trade ministers, including Canada’s Stockwell Day, clung to the sinking ship of trade liberalization.”

“Rich countries like Canada are pushing developing countries to negotiate free trade agreements inside and outside the WTO, but it is precisely these deals which have caused, for example, 200,000 farmer suicides in India,” adds Broderick. “These policies of trade liberalization and corporate globalization cause farmers to be caught in a swirl of debt which generates despair.”

The Council of Canadians is a national grassroots social justice organization and member of the Our World Is Not For Sale network, which brought together in Geneva over 200 civil society representatives from over 40 countries to demand an immediate halt to the current trade liberalization (Doha) round of negotiations, a reversal of existing WTO commitments that limit government action on the environment, finance and job creation, and an honest stock taking of how corporate-led globalization has impacted local and national economies.

For More Information or to arrange interviews:

Stuart Trew, Trade Campaigner, Council of Canadians. +1-647-222-9782. strew@canadians.org.