Archive - 2011 - Article

Analytical Note, December 2011

This Analytical Note provides an overview of the following: issues at stake in MC8 for developing countries and key messages for Ministers; the state of play including the main events that took place in the production of the ‘Elements for Political Guidance’ text; the legal status of the Chairman’s Statement as the outcome document of the Ministerial; important process issues to be mindful of during the Ministerial; a detailed look at the issues in the ‘Elements for Political Guidance’ text; and a paragraph by paragraph analysis of the ‘Elements’ text.

Tout au long de ses 15 années d’existence, l’OMC a fixé les normes du commerce mondial en faveur du pouvoir et des profits des entreprises, au grand dam des travailleurs, des agriculteurs et de l’environnement, et mettant en péril la souveraineté des pays du monde entier. Le programme des négociations destinées à élargir l’OMC (qu’on appelle Cycle de Doha) était inapproprié quand il fut lancé en 2001, mais il l’est encore davantage aujourd’hui, au vu des répercussions des crises mondiales actuelles.

Inexplicably, the WTO has yet again announced an accelerated schedule of negotiations this spring, after some governments agreed at the November 2010 meetings of the G20 to push for a conclusion the Doha Round of WTO expansion negotiations in 2011. OWINFS encourages social movements and civil society organizations concerned about the impacts of the WTO on workers, farmers, women, the environment, and our future, to organize national pressure immediately on your Trade Minister and other national officials!

The G20 is an unelected and select group of countries whose membership was originally drawn in response to the financial crises of the 1990s.1 The group came to its current position of prominence as a result of the latest wave of crises starting in 2007, as it had become clear that the G8 were incapable of responding without the collaboration of those from outside their number. The G20 has illegitimately proclaimed itself to be the premier forum of global economic governance for the future. In particular, the G20 seeks to dictate which bodies should be entrusted with responsibility for policing the global economy on its behalf. The G20’s policy agenda is driven primarily by the interests of global capital, as business leaders meet regularly in closed session with G20 ministers in the run-up to the G20 summits.G20 is trying to promote further liberalisation of trade, investment, finance and public services as a solution to the crisis. Recognizing that profound and fundamental change to the system is the ONLY solution to the crisis, member organisations and social movements of Our World Is Not For Sale make the following demands: