Brussels based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) welcomed the proposal put forward by the G90 group of developing countries regarding GATS negotiations at the World Trade Organisation talks.
The ICFTU particularly welcomed the fact that it takes out any mention of “mandatory plurilateralism”, providing developing countries with a much better chance of protecting their public services in the negotiations.
Speaking on behalf of 145 million workers Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the ICFTU said today:
If the industrialised countries seriously want to achieve agreement here in Hong Kong and help save the multilateral trading system, they would do well to pay attention to the G90 proposal on services.
Whilst nowhere near ideal, this proposal at least has the potential to unblock the talks. If the major players are really interested in trade delivering for the developing world, as they keep claiming, they have to stop attempting to push developing countries into a corner. This text provides the opportunity for the EU in particular to change tack and save some face.
The fact that this proposal has been agreed to by some 90 of the WTO's 150 members should carry enough weight for it to be taken seriously. The WTO would do well to take some lessons in democracy.
Belgium based ICFTU represents 145 million workers through its 234 affiliated organisations in 154countries and territories. It has three major regional organisations, APRO for Asia and the Pacific, AFRO for Africa, and ORIT for the Americas.
It also maintains close links with the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) (which includes all ICFTU European affiliates) and Global Union Federations, which link together national unions from a particular trade or industry at international level.
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
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