[asia-apec 391] Re: NZ government slammed over OECD investment treaty
Gatt Watchdog
gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz
Thu Apr 24 12:48:52 JST 1997
Path: corso!gattwd
From: gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz (Gatt Watchdog)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: NZ government slammed over OECD investment treaty
Message-ID: <ge7N6D2w165w at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 97 15:35:51 +1200
Reply-To: gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz (Gatt Watchdog)
Organization: PlaNet Gaia Otautahi
GATT Watchdog
PO Box 1905
Otautahi/Christchurch
Aotearoa/New Zealand
Email: gattwd at corso.ch.planet.gen.nz
CAFCA
PO Box 2258
Christchurch
Email: cafca at chch.planet.org.nz
MEDIA RELEASE
24/4/97
For Immediate Use
Government secrecy over OECD international investment treaty slammed.
Fair trade coalition GATT Watchdog and Campaign Against Foreign
Control of Aotearoa (CAFCA) are urging the government to withdraw from
further highly secretive negotiations on a Multilateral Agreement on
Investment (MAI) which seeks to do away with barriers for foreign
investors among the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development) nations. The groups challenge the government to enter into
genuine public consultation on this issue immediately.
The MAI represents a radical new economic treaty to set new limits on
how governments can regulate investment and would override national
legislation. CAFCA and GATT Watchdog have obtained a copy of the
leaked draft agreement.
In letters to the Prime Minister, International Trade Minister Lockwood
Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Don McKinnon, Deputy
Prime Minister and Treasurer Winston Peters, and Finance Minister Bill
Birch, GATT Watchdog questions the mandate of the government to enter
into such negotiations without any public debate and challenges the
secrecy surrounding the proposed agreement. It points out that the Clerk
of the House of Representatives, David McGee described the way in which
New Zealand has entered into international agreements such as the
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) as "fundamentally
undemocratic". An October 1996 Department of Justice briefing paper to
the Minister of Justice raised similar concerns.
"Most New Zealanders are oblivious of the fact that New Zealand officials
at the OECD are participating in such a far-reaching agreement. The
OECD has no mandate to be negotiating such a treaty in the first place.
And what mandate do Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade or Treasury
officials have to participate in this process in such a secretive manner?"
says Aziz Choudry, GATT Watchdog spokesperson.
"The European Union, having failed thus far to get such an investment
treaty created within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the USA
are the main proponents of the MAI. This is in essence a freedom charter
for transnational corporations, giving them absolute rights without a
shred of responsibility. It goes far beyond the investment liberalisation
measures contained in the GATT Uruguay Round. It will strip away the
powers of governments to regulate investment, and outlaw discrimination
against foreign investors. It would facilitate even easier movement of
assets from country to country, encouraging countries to compete in a race
to the bottom in environmental, health and safety standards and labour
costs to attract investors. It would allow any corporation with a grievance
against regulatory mechanisms the right to sue local or national
governments before an international tribunal with a binding outcome.
And it would have many more implications, limiting other rights of
national governments to ensure that investment serves local economic and
social needs. If New Zealand signs this agreement it would remove any
remaining protections over the economy in areas like fisheries and rural
land ownership for example. And how does the government square its
Treaty of Waitangi obligations with its negotiations on the MAI?" he said.
"The OECD had hoped to get negotiations completed by May, but this
deadline has now been moved back several months. It is high time that
the Government fronted up to the peoples of New Zealand rather than
presenting Parliament with a fait accompli in a few months time as it has
done in the past in relation to other international treaties it has entered
into. WTO Director General Renato Ruggiero has characterised the MAI
negotiations as "writing the constitution of a single global economy..."
Governments will be reduced to the status of mere filing clerks, ratifiers
and rubber stamps in the service of transnational capital. We urgently
need genuine public debate about the contents of the draft investment
agreement, New Zealand's position in these negotiations, and the
implications for New Zealand and New Zealanders of the MAI. Without
this the government cannot claim to be democratic."
"The question of foreign investment was a major election issue last year.
And rightly so. The right of peoples to decide how, where and to what
extent foreign investors may enter their economy is fundamental to any
society which wants to chart its own course of development and hang on to
its political and economic sovereignty. That right is now under renewed
threat with this OECD proposed agreement" concludes Mr Choudry.
(Copy of letter to MPs is attached)
A copy of the draft MAI text can be viewed on the following website:
http//www.citizen.org/gtw
Copies are available from CAFCA, P O Box 2258, Christchurch cost $15
for copying and postage
For further comment
ph Aziz Choudry (GATT Watchdog) (03) 3662803 (w) 3484763 (h)
or Murray Horton (CAFCA) (03) 3663988
(Letter to Ministers)
23 April 1997
Dear Dr Smith,
We understand that Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Treasury
officials are currently involved in negotiating an OECD multilateral
investment agreement.
We are deeply concerned that the government is taking part in such
negotiations when it has not consulted with the public about either the
contents of the draft agreement on investment nor the implications of such
an agreement being concluded on New Zealand and New Zealanders.
Essentially we believe that the OECD proposal reads like a freedom
charter for the transnational corporations which dominate the world
economy. The removal of a nation's right to determine how, where and to
what extent foreign investments may be made severely compromises
economic and political sovereignty.
The Clerk of the House of Representatives, Mr David McGee raised
concerns last year about the "fundamentally undemocratic" way in which
New Zealand has entered into international agreements such as the
GATT. He points out that there "is little or no opportunity for public
input while a treaty is under consideration" and that Parliamentary
debate tends to be bypassed altogether in such cases. Similarly, an
October 1996 briefing paper to the Minister of Justice by the Justice
Department suggests:
"where treaties are likely to change our domestic law, presenting the
House with a concluded draft treaty for acceptance or rejection may not be
sufficient. Where a treaty has the potential to affect the rights of New
Zealand persons, parliamentary, and hence public, participation would be
more effective if the House provided guidance during the formative
drafting stages".
We seriously question the mandate of the New Zealand government to
enter into such negotiations, let alone bind itself to an agreement of this
kind.
We believe that it is outrageous for the New Zealand government to enter
into such an agreement without there being public debate, and a public
mandate to do so. We call on the government to withdraw from further
negotiations until genuine public consultation on this matter has taken
place.
We would welcome your response as to the nature of New Zealand's
position at the OECD negotiations on this agreement and an explanation
as to the high level of secrecy which surrounds it.
Yours sincerely,
Aziz Choudry - GATT Watchdog
=====================================================================
GATT Watchdog, Box 1905, Otautahi (Christchurch) 8015, Aotearoa
(New Zealand). Ph 64 3 3662803 Fax 64 3 3484763
=====================================================================
More information about the Asia-apec
mailing list