Civil society protest against inclusion of new agenda in WTO

NAIROBI: Members of civil society today held a protest outside WTO ministerial conference demanding that new issues should not be included in the agenda before concluding the development mandate.

"The civil society leaders demanded that no so-called 'new issues' should be put on the agenda, particularly while the development mandate has not been concluded", said an Our World Is Not for Sale ( OWINFS) network statement.

They called for a binding LDC (least developed countries) package and that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Declaration affirms the development mandate.

They also pressed for removal of WTO obstacles to food security through the conclusion of the permanent solution for public stockholding, as well as special safeguard mechanism, and disciplines on export competition.

OWINFS is a global network of NGOs and social movements working for a sustainable, socially just, and democratic multilateral trading system.

Over 90 civil society experts - trade unionists, farmers, development advocates, and consumer activists - from at least 25 countries have travelled to Nairobi for the Ministerial meeting of the WTO, the release said.

Its members include representatives from India, Brazil, US, UK, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.