WTO Boosters Lump Globalization
Critics with "Terrorists"

Web Note: In what is one of the most shameless and disgusting pieces
published after last week's terrible terrorist attack, Mrs. Cattaui of the
pro-WTO International Chamber of Commerce is using the tragedy as an
argument for the corporate trade agenda and grouping the terrorists with the
opponents of a new WTO round...

Some quotes:

"A new trade round would testify to the world's governments'
collective resolve to put aside short-term self-interest for the good
of all, especially the world's poorer nations. It would be an act of
defiance that any government would be loath to reject, particularly if
the US Congress shows the way by giving President Bush trade
negotiating authority."

"That would be a grave setback to the WTO and all it stands for as
the guardian of the multilateral trading system, a setback that
would be acclaimed by all enemies of freer world trade and
investment, including those behind the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon."

http://www.iccwbo.org/home/news_archives/2001/business.asp
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What business should do to thwart the terrorists

By Maria Livanos Cattaui
Maria Livanos Cattaui is Secretary General of the International
Chamber of Commerce

Paris, 18 September 2001 - Faced with the enormity of the terrorist
attacks in New York and Washington, most of us needed time
before we could even begin to think about how to respond as
individuals. Now, people all over the world are going through that
process. What is the best thing we can do to honour those who
died?

Business people especially must refuse to be cowed by last
week's terrible events. This is not a case of "business as usual",
for that cannot be. The mood should rather be "business despite
what has happened" - determination to get back to normal life and
activity as soon as possible and to carry on with plans and projects.

For us to react otherwise would be to play into the hands of the
terrorists. They want to push the world economy into recession. If
their actions have demonstrably inflicted severe injury, however
temporary, on capitalism, they will exult. If they feel that they have
stopped global economic integration in its tracks, they will rejoice.
Those rewards must be denied them. That is the least the
worldwide business community can do for the victims.

Governments and central banks are taking the measures needed to
keep an already faltering world economy from tipping over into
recession. The coordinated cuts in interest rates by the US Federal
Reserve, the European Central Bank and the central banks of
Canada, Switzerland and Sweden this week were both timely and
encouraging.

Companies and investors have a right to expect their governments
and financial institutions to continue policy coordination on a global
scale. We are already living in anxious times as all the major
economies simultaneously face a downturn. The terrorist assault
must not be allowed to compound those difficulties.

It is in the minds of individual business people at every level that
the battle to deny the terrorists the satisfaction they seek will be
fought and won. The tragedy must not weaken business
confidence, hard though the times may be.

When people are in trouble, it is only human to look for positive
signs, however bleak the outlook. There can surely be no more
timely and potent response than for the world's governments, now
locked in negotiations on an acceptable agenda for a new trade
round, to give that extra push that will produce the consensus that
they seek.

A new trade round would testify to the world's governments'
collective resolve to put aside short-term self-interest for the good
of all, especially the world's poorer nations. It would be an act of
defiance that any government would be loath to reject, particularly if
the US Congress shows the way by giving President Bush trade
negotiating authority.

No group will benefit more from freer trade than those developing
countries whose people are mired in poverty and the dangerous
despair it generates. Provided a new trade round brings them
significantly improved access to the markets of the industrialized
world, this will do more to raise living standards and enhance
stability than any amount of development aid or debt cancellation.

It is encouraging to hear the United States Trade Representative,
Robert Zoellick, say that the November ministerial meeting of the
World Trade Organization in Qatar must be held despite the
terrorist attacks so that the world trading system can continue to
promote international growth, development and openness.

Qatar must not be another sterile exercise - a repeat of the failure
to get a trade round of the ground in Seattle in 1999 that left the
trade ministers empty-handed when they returned to their capitals.
That would be a grave setback to the WTO and all it stands for as
the guardian of the multilateral trading system, a setback that
would be acclaimed by all enemies of freer world trade and
investment, including those behind the attacks on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon.

There must at the very least be significant progress at Qatar in
further multilateral trade liberalization to accompany the expected
admission of China to membership of the WTO, immense though
that achievement on its own will be for the world. Those charged
with preparing China's accession brought 15 years of hard work to
a successful conclusion this week, giving a much-needed boost of
confidence and hope.

Qatar must crown that success by agreement on launching a
broad multilateral trade round. That would be a telling setback to
xenophobia and intolerance and go a long way towards sustaining
business confidence everywhere in the aftermath of 11 September
2001.

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Maria Livanos Cattaui is Secretary General of the International
Chamber of Commerce