Greenpece Comments on Outcome
of WTO Meeting in Qatar

Doha, 14 November 2001

WTO meeting fails the world

As trade liberalisation talks ground to a close, the
Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior set sail from offshore the
World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting site in Doha, Qatar.

Greenpeace activists inside the meeting unfurled banners
calling for a fundamental transformation of trade rules. The
meeting has concluded with a declaration that falls short of
ambitions declared at the start of negotiations and also
disappoints hopes for protection of communities and the
environment.

“This meeting has failed to produce a vision for sustainable
development and the protection of the environment” said
Greenpeace International Political Director Remi Parmentier,
speaking from the meeting site. “The WTO has two crises of
confidence: Opposition from the outside world to this trade
liberalisation agenda, and an internal crisis of dissent among
WTO member countries.”

Parmentier called for an international conference to revise
the relationship between the WTO, International Monetary Fund,
World Bank and environmental protection.

This meeting ran into overtime and concluded only in the last
possible hours of discussion. The agreement on environment
offers very little progress in defending environmental
protections against trade concerns.

“Every step of progress on the environment is countered by
contradictory language or harmful measures” said Greenpeace
Canada campaigns director Jo Dufay, on board the Rainbow
Warrior. “They have agreed to study the relationship between
trade rules and the environment, but also said that WTO rules
won’t change.” Dufay was in Doha for the trade meeting.

The agreement on areas for further trade liberalisation was
finalised today after a grueling round-the-clock negotiating
session. Apart from the environment, major differences on
investment, ‘dumping’, agriculture and market access for
textiles stalled the talks for days. Developing nations
claimed their needs had not been addressed by the rich
countries, and that unfair pressure was being exerted.

In the end, liberalisation of investment measures was not
resolved, with agreement only that this may undergo further
negotiations at the next Ministerial meeting, two years from
now.

Earlier agreement on drug patent issues offers some relief to
earlier WTO agreements. “The whole issue of medicines and the
patenting of life should never have been subject to horse- trading
in the first place,” Parmentier commented.

“They are have come up with a balance of misery, where
everyone is unhappy, especially developing nations. This is no
way to run the world,” Dufay concluded.