Africa: African members of parliament issue statement on WTO

"We, Parliamentarians from Africa attending the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), being elected representatives of the people of Africa, and faithful to our oversight role, have keenly followed the process of multilateral trade negotiations since the failed fifth MC in Cancun in 2003. We have noted with concern that while the Doha Ministerial Declaration’s Paragraph 4 explicitly calls for the needs and interests of developing countries to be at the heart of the Doha Work Programme (DWP), vested interests in powerful countries of the North have hijacked the process and content of the DWP and is determined to deliver a “Round for Free” to developed Members of the WTO. We insist that the development concerns in all aspects of negotiations that have been raised by African Members and other developing countries must be addressed and explicitly agreed upon (with clear targets, indicators and timelines) as an integral part of the negotiations."

Key sites for keeping updated on events in Hong Kong

- Third World Network Africa
http://www.twnafrica.org/wto.asp

- Focus on the Global South
http://www.focusweb.org/

- Third World Network
http://www.twnside.org.sg/

- Hong Kong People's Alliance on the WTO
http://daga.dhs.org/hkpa/paw/pawindex.html

- WTO: Derail, Dismantle, Destroy
http://targetwto.revolt.org/