Brussels, 05/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The ecologist movement Greenpeace expects the trade ministers of the countries belonging to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to take a decision next week in Cancun on a series of controversial debates that give priority to crucial political considerations other than trade interests, including development, public health, consumers' rights and protection of the environment.
In a "Guide to the 5th Ministerial Conference of the WTO", the NGO mainly calls upon the 146 to express a clear and resounding "no" to: - "forced trade", by rejecting the American complaint against the European provision concerning genetically modified organisms. It denounces the US attempt to "force GM foods on the rest of the world", ratifying and implementing the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety immediately instead; - the launch of negotiations on new so-called "Singapore" issues (investment, competition, public procurement transparency and trade facilitation), at least until trade rules have been geared back onto sustainable development and while developing countries are reticent. Also, Greenpeace notes, the WTO, which is already "overburdened", is "not a suitable forum" for such talks to be carried out in a balanced way, given its "bias towards liberalisation and protecting corporate interests/investor rights over development priorities". Also mentioning this obvious WTO "bias within the WTO in favour of trade liberalisation over other legitimate policy goals", Greenpeace also says it trusts discussions on the relations between trade rules and multilateral environment agreements (MEAs) will be referred to a "neutral forum, preferably the UN, which is better placed to address all three pillars of sustainable development in a balanced fashion". If, as stated in Doha, the WTO decides to extend the scope of negotiations along these lines, "the risk of proceeding with negotiations is too high, given the WTO's history on these issues".
On other chapters among the most sensitive of the Doha Development Agenda, Greenpeace recommends: - redirection of multilateral agricultural rules towards "food sovereignty" and an increase in the rights and means of subsistence of local communities; - a complete moratorium on negotiation of GATS (services), an agreement that must be submitted to independent review and a study of the impact that it will have on sustainable development, before "WTO members become locked into an irreversible liberalisation model which could be disastrous for developing and least developed countries". Greenpeace is also concerned about a number of ambiguities and omissions. These include in particular, the programmed examination of the conflictual relationship between the agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which supports the "entire privatisation of genetic sources through patents", and the rights and obligations previously acquired in the context of the Convention on Biodiversity, the aim of which is biological preservation and diversity, the sustainable use of its elements and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of such resources. Greenpeace finds it worrying that the WTO has not yet stipulated in Doha that the legal value of the latter should take primacy over the protection of patents.