To denounce the present situation in ongoing trade talks, the so-called “Doha Round,” representatives of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), with delegates of other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide, participated in a demonstration ahead of important World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. The talks are seen to be doing little to help developing countries out of poverty
The protest took place in Geneva, October 15. One of the speakers, Mr Michael Kuehn, LWF Department for World Service (DWS) field program representative in Haiti talked about the situation in the Latin American country where cheap subsidized imports from developed countries were increasingly undermining local production. “Economic globalization as it is happening now is not working for us and for the people we are concerned about,” he said. Trade, he added, “is not just an economic issue. It affects the lives and livelihoods of millions of people across the world.”
The LWF was also active in the October 17-21 WTO week of debate and discussion in Geneva. Lobbying meetings with trade negotiators took place to sensitize people dealing with specific issues about concerns of economic justice. Discussions also were held with developing countries’ trade representatives to seek the involvement of civil society in achieving a greater measure of economic justice in the negotiations. (216 words)
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