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Taking
the Trade Justice message to the very top!
The
call for Trade Justice was taken to the very top of the EU in Brussels
when six delegates from the North West of England took a petition from
almost 2,000 supporters of the Trade Justice campaign to Pascal
Lamy, EU Commissioner for Trade. Pascal
Lamy, as head of the EU negotiating team at the WTO (World Trade
Organisation) talks in Cancun, Mexico this September is the amongst the
most powerful men in the world with a responsibility to make the World
Trade rules fair and just for the poorest people in the world. |
Left
to right - (Click on photo for larger copy)
Polly Taylor
Samir Chatterjee
Andrew Dawson
Pascal Lamy
Mark Coleman
Dave Pearce
Chris Worral
Chris Davies MEP |
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The
delegates argued for Trade Justice on behalf of the billion people in the
world living on less than a dollar a day and the 19,000 who die every day
from diseases of poverty. In
their name we called for no new rules to be forced on poor countries until
the promises of the richest countries to reduce their trade barriers and
end export subsidies had been met.
|
 | Taking the petition ensured we got our message right
to the top! |
| They need us! To progress trade justice, they
need our campaigns |
| Hearing the other side of the argument was
interesting |
| We should focus on sugar regime this year |
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Chris
Davies, Liberal Democrat MEP for the North West organised the meeting with
Pascal Lamy. All of the
delegates were impressed by the opportunity to be able to take our message
directly to the very top and the openness and warmth of the reception.
The spirit of co-operation and consensus within the EU Parliament
in Brussels is in stark contrast to the adversarial style of Westminster!
Pascal
Lamy not only understood all of the issues raised but also took a very
positive stance on the EU responsibility to make trade fairer for the
poorest countries. He was
optimistic that export subsidies would continue to fall, that the sugar
regime would be resolved by the end of the year and that the impasse with
America on access to medicines (mainly for AIDs) would be resolved at
Cancun. To quote from Pascal Lamy “It
is great to see groups like TJM getting involved.
Next stop Cancun, where we hope to make sure that the Round lives
up to its billing, and that developing countries get a fair deal out of
the WTO.”
After
the meeting all of the delegates agreed it had been a very positive and
hopefully successful opportunity to convey the commitment and passion for
trade rules to be made fairer to the very top of the political tree. Billions of people’s lives depend on the rich countries
meeting their promises to make these negotiations something for the
developing countries to really celebrate. |
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19 Juni 2006
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