ASEM Warned: Don't use bilaterals to revive WTO agenda

ASEM Warned: Don't use bilaterals to revive WTO agenda
TNI Press Release, Brussels, 31 August 2006

With the breakdown of WTO talks, civil society campaigners from Asia and Europe are warning that the forthcoming ASEM summit could be used to push a neo-liberal agenda through bilateral trade agreements instead.

"Given the current WTO debacle, we're concerned that ASEM could be used, directly or indirectly, to push unfavourable free trade agreements. These would further exacerbate existing asymmetries between Asia and Europe, and within Asia" says Charles Santiago, Director of Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization, a Malaysia-based advocacy group.

The Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit, which brings together the leaders of 38 Asian and European countries and the European Commission, will be held in Helsinki, Finland on 10-11 September. It will be preceded by the Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF), a civil society forum attended by 450 participants representing almost 200 NGOs from the two regions.

AEPF organisers are particularly concerned about the disproportionate influence on ASEM of the Asia Europe Business Forum (AEBF), where senior WTO and European Commission officials are expected to attend.

"The Commission is a particularly eager supporter of the AEBF, which it uses to promote its ambition to see ASEM facilitate radical trade and investment liberalisation" says Olivier Hoedeman, research co-ordinator at Corporate Europe Observatory.

Further information:
Oscar Reyes, Transnational Institute, Tel + 31 20 662 66 08, oscar@tni.org

The Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF) will be held on 3-6 September 2006 in Helsinki, Finland. Further details are available at www.aepf.net