Summary
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries negotiate new accord on foreign business practices
The proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment threatens to undermine local political rule by granting international business enterprises unprecedented power. Unless action is taken, a new global economy will cater to the wealthy minority.See the full content of this document
Extract
Democracy or corporate rule?
One of my favorite quotes from Noam Chomsky is "People don't know what is happening, and they don't even know that they don't know." Nowhere is this more evident than in the attempt by corporations to make the rules by which we live.
With their host governments, including the United States, corporations are attempting to reorganize global economic structures and political power. Their primary tools are the trade accords, including the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); the World Trade Organization (WTO), created to enforce GATT's rules; the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and now the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI). The same people who brought us GATT and NAFTA are pushing for an agreement on the MAI. For two years, twenty-nine countries, comprising the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), have been locked in secret negotiations in Paris to complete this accord. The press, consu...See the full content of this document
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