Seattle: what’s at stake?
Resource booklet for the Seattle Ministerial Meeting
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> Other ministerial meetings
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Contents
Now, in Seattle, fresh decisions are needed
World trade and output, 1948–9 (table)
Exports and imports: we gain from both
Trade and the developing countries
Globalization: challenge or threat?
From Marrakesh to Seattle … and what’s ahead
1. What the WTO has been doing
2. Developments and challenges in trade and trade policy
1. The WTO is unrepresentative and undemocratic, and undermines the sovereignty of governments
2. The WTO is concerned only with free trade
3. WTO rules and liberalization destroy jobs, depress wages and ignore workers’ rights
5. Do WTO rules and dispute rulings menace the environment, health, and safety?
6. With so much at stake, the WTO must respond to its critics
| Related material on
main WTO website > About the WTO > 10 common misunderstandings about the WTO > 10 benefits of the WTO system |
What world leaders say
“We are firmly of the belief that the existence of the GATT, and now the World Trade Organization, as a rules-based system, provides the foundation on which our deliberations can build in order to improve … As we enter the new millennium, let us forge a partnership for development through trade and investment”.
Nelson Mandela
speech on the 50th anniversary
of the multilateral trading system,
19 May 1998
“Globalization is not a policy choice — it is a fact.”
Bill Clinton
speech on the 50th anniversary
of the multilateral trading system,
18 May 1998
“The evidence is overwhelmingly persuasive that the massive increase in world competition — a consequence of broadening trade flows — has fostered markedly higher standards of living for almost all countries that have participated in cross-border trade.”
Alan Greenspan
“Trade and Technology”
speech before the Minnesota Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota
30 September 1999
“No nation, big or small, can be left out of this important institution, nor should it … We should turn this organization into an instrument of the struggle for a more just and better world.”
Fidel Castro
speech on the 50th anniversary
of the multilateral trading system
20 May 1998
“The GATT’s system of trade rules and agreements has contributed massively to global prosperity. It is not something we should take for granted.”
Tony Blair
speech on the 50th anniversary
of the multilateral trading system
20 May 1998
“Too much of this century was marked by force and coercion. Our dream must be a world managed by persuasion, the rule of law, the settlement of differences peacefully within the law and cooperation. It’s a good thing that all our living standards are now based on the ability of our neighbours to purchase our products. That’s where the WTO can do splendid work and advance the progress of the human species.”
Mike Moore
speech to the Transatlantic Business Dialogue
29 October 1999