April
18, 2001
For
Immediate Release Contact:
Ben Lilliston, 612-870-3416
Free Trade Area of the Americas Chapter on Investment Now Public on www.iatp.org
Minneapolis
- The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) draft Negotiating Text on Investment
is available for public review and comment on the world wide web at www.iatp.org. Until now, all chapters of the
FTAA negotiating document have been kept secret by governments. Trade ministers
had agreed on April 7 to publish the entire negotiating texts after the Summit
of the Americas meeting in Quebec City taking place April 20-22.
Institute
for Agriculture and Trade Policy President Mark Ritchie commented:
"Making
this FTAA chapter on investment public on the world wide web is a small but
real next step in the long process of bringing democracy and transparency to
trade negotiations. It is unfortunate that most governments have not yet come
to see the wisdom of being open with their citizens on policy proposals that
could profoundly affect all of daily life.
We hope that the rest of the secret text will be released by governments
today or tomorrow so citizens and taxpayers can see what is being proposed in
our name. Until now only corporate advisors to the negotiators have
participated in the negotiation of this text, and even members of the U.S.
Congress have had only conditioned access to these documents and have been
prohibited from taking notes or making copies. “
The
42-page document covers several points of contention among
participating
countries, including:
· Will investor rights take precedence
over labor, human and environmental rights, as defined in international
protocols;
· The inclusion of the investor-state
provision of NAFTA which gives corporations (but not citizens or NGOs) the right
to sue governments directly through the dispute settlement mechanism;
· Prohibition of capital controls.
Many countries argue that they help protect economies from financial
instability;
· Prohibition of performance
requirements on investors.
The
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes resilient family farms,
rural communities and ecosystems around the world through research and
education, science and technology, and advocacy.