[G8] Poor: the missing spectre at the rich man's G8 trade feast

from Christian Aid

The only way G8 leaders can save stalled trade talks at St Petersburg is by abandoning the narrow self-interest threatening to plunge poor countries into fresh poverty and despair, say Christian Aid.

But the current deadlock on trade, which has lasted ever since the World Trade Organisation’s ministerial meeting in Hong Kong last December, looks set to drag on in the face of continuing rich country selfishness.

‘Plans currently on the table are hopelessly flawed and are still stacked against the interests of poor countries,’ says Dr Claire Melamed, Christian Aid’s senior trade analyst.

‘Proposals being discussed will allow the European Union and the US to actually increase their subsidies rather than reverse them at the same time as demanding massive and unsustainable in-roads into developing country markets,’ she said.

‘After all the hard work of the past year to put Africa on the agenda, a failure of collective political will at this G8 will condemn countless numbers of poor people into deeper misery. Good trade can lift people out of poverty: bad trade can drop them further in,’ says Dr Melamed

For more information contact : Dr Claire Melamed in St Petersburg on 44 7985 075853 or John McGhie on 44 7720813865