"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
"Participation Builds Unity"
"MADE IN AFRICA - FOR AFRICA"
PRESENTS
URGENT APPEAL TO TRADE MINISTERS - THE EVIAN GROUP
Meg JONES (Deputy Director)
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The Evian Group IMD
Lausanne, Switzerland
on behalf of 60 signatories listed below
22 July 2005
URGENT APPEAL TO TRADE MINISTERS
We, members of the Evian Group Open World Initiative (OWI), a network and movement
of individuals from multiple professional activities, diverse continents and cultures,
primarily from the generation that will be assuming positions of responsibility and
leadership in the decade or so ahead, committed to an open world economy, sustainable
growth and social development, wish to express our alarm that the Doha ‘Development’
Agenda should be making so little progress.
The world is facing a number of major challenges that would normally be too obvious to
mention. We feel, however, the need to remind trade negotiators: that there are powerful
new players in the trade arena, which must be well integrated into the global multilateral
rules-based economic community; that there are hundreds of millions of young people
joining the labour market, overwhelmingly in developing countries, for whom not only jobs
need to be found, but a sense of inclusion and hope needs even more to be conveyed;
that there are major challenges in regard to poverty, the environment, disease, resources;
that there is terrorism world-wide. This is a time for leadership, vision, and adherence to
robust economic and social principles, to the rule of law and to firm commitment to
discharging international obligations (eg the Doha Declaration), both in letter and in spirit.
Of course trade and a successful Doha Round cannot solve all problems. That we know.
But we also know that a failure to move the Doha Agenda forward will exacerbate them,
and will further weaken the fabric of the all too fragile global economy and accelerate the
centrifugal forces in the global community that have intensified in recent years.
Conversely, progress in trade, a truly successful WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong
and the political leadership and vision driving these will have a highly salutary effect. This
is a time of great danger; it is also a time of great opportunity. The former must be
avoided, the latter must be seized. It is a matter of vision, will and, above all else, action..
A major breakthrough must be obtained preferably by the end of July, if not soonest
thereafter. To that end the mercantilist spirit and reciprocity based brinkmanship that have
characterised negotiations to date must be eradicated, or at least very strongly diluted. We
urge you instead to think of the future, of the kind of world you will be bequeathing, of your
responsibility to the next generation, and to all future generations. All countries stand to
benefit from a more dynamic and open world economy. Trade ministers of developing
countries should pursue the positive impact socially responsible trade liberalisation can
have on domestic reform and national institutional development.
Both history and theory demonstrate that the greatest benefits tend to come from unilateral
trade-liberalisation. We believe all WTO members share responsibility, but some share it
more than others. In particular, we call on the EU, the US, Japan, Switzerland, Norway
and Canada to take the lead in unilaterally undertaking substantial agricultural trade
liberalisation, not only in respect to foreign and domestic subsidies, but also on market
access. This would be a sign of true leadership that the world is currently desperately
lacking, it will also have a galvanising effect on the global economy and on the spirit
needed to create a global community for the XXI century that will prevent it from going
down the disastrous road of protectionism and nationalism that caused such catastrophe
and tragedy in the previous century.
Meg Jones, Deputy Director, The Evian Group, IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland
URGENT APPEAL TO TRADE MINISTERS
1. Meg Jones, Evian Group, Australia
on behalf of 60 signatories, below; see www.eviangroup.org; for further details
contact Meg.Jones@imd.ch, +41-21-618-0697
22 July 2005
Signatories: name, profession, nationality
2. Son Nguyen, Business Development Manager, Switzerland
3. Leon Mdiya, Business School Programme Manager, South Africa
4. Caroline Couronne, NGO, France
5. Anirudh Shingal, Consultant, India
6. Eduardo Widákowich, Consultant, Switzerland
7. Lorenzo Wong, Business Manager, Peru
8. Karine Zufferey, Evian Group, Switzerland
9. Adesina Salawau, Consultant, Nigeria
10. Fabrice Lehmann, Free-lance, France
11. Tim Price, EU Political Consultant, UK
12. Auguste Nguetsop, Management Consultant, Cameroon
13. Peter Müller-Peddinghaus, Lawyer, Germany
14. Ghislaine Weder, PhD Economics Student, Switzerland
15. Valentin Kassin, Consultant, Austria
16. Mill Soko, Consultant, South Africa
17. Anne E McBride, Doctoral Student, Switzerland
18. Carla Sinanian, Manager Electronics, Lebanon
19. Ann Mettler, Lisbon Council, Germany
20. Paul Hofheinz, Lisbon Council, US
21. Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Evian Group, France
22. Bu Hua, Journalist, China
23. Mari Kooskora, Academic, Estonia
24. Servaas de Kock, Entrepreneur, South Africa
25. Jianfei Zhao, Journalist, China
26. Emma Cranfield, Evian Group, UK
27. Marcelo Miniati, Business Manager, Argentina
28. Sherry Marcelin, Doctoral Candidate, St Lucia
29. Bruno Sarda, Manager IT, France
30. Rodolphe Verhaegen, Marketer, Belgium
31. Rachel Thompson, Business Manager, Australia
32. Oxana Kukhaneva, Business Manager, Russia
33. Aparna Shivpuri Singh, Researcher, Singapore
34. François Gilles, Management Consultant, Belgium
35. Valérie Engammare, Evian Group, Switzerland/France
36. Nicolas Verhaegen, Sales Executive, Belgium
37. Nigel Morris-Cotterill, Anti Money Laundering Network, UK
38. George S Chen, Journalist, China
39. Martina Lodrant, Researcher, Slovenia
40. Ivy Zhang, Journalist, China
41. Shuaihua Cheng, Researcher, China
42. Andreas Birnik, Mobile Operator Manager, Sweden
43. Alexander Price, Management Consultant, New Zealand/UK
44. Tina Shiying, Journalist, China
45. Eoghan O Lionaird, Electronics Health Care Industry Manager, Ireland
46. Akanksha Mittal, Financial Executive, India
47. Alexander Osterwalder, NGO, Switzerland
48. Diane Bisgeier, Product Manager, USA
49. Duncan Coombe, Doctoral Student, South Africa
50. Huma Fakhar, Lawyer, Pakistan
51. Jacques Panchard, Doctoral Student, Switzerland
52. Juan Polakovic, Business Manager, Argentina
53. Kamal Quadir, Entrepreneur, Bangladesh
54. Marco Lalos, Postgraduate Student, Mexico
55. Michael Bratt, Market Research Analyst, Sweden
56. Serge Ntamack, Trade Lawyer, Cameroon
57. Tom Butler, Farmer, Ireland
58. Xiaolu Zhu, Trade Lawyer in Washington DC, Chinese
59. Peter Orne, Journalist, USA
60. Gaye Eslen Ozerkan, Consultant, Turkey
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