Civil Society Declaration Calling for No Investment Negotiations at the World Trade Organization

A May 2003 declaration by a broad coalition of civil society organizations calling on World Trade Organization (WTO) members to reject the launch of negotiations on investment and other 'Singapore Issues' at the upcoming Ministerial Conference in Cancun.

• Civil society organizations reject the launch of negotiations on investment and the 'Singapore Issues'—which include investment, competition, transparency in government procurement, and trade facilitation—at the September Ministerial Conference in Cancun, arguing that the WTO is the 'wrong forum' and is currently in a crisis regarding issues fundamental to developing countries.
• The signatories argue that previous multilateral investment negotiation attempts, such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), focused too heavily on investor protections while neglecting corporate accountability, liability, sustainable development, and poverty reduction.
• The document claims that WTO members including the US, Japan, and the EU seek to grant transnational investors rights that allow them to bypass national decisions regarding macroeconomic policy, environmental directives, human rights law, and development priorities.
• The declaration asserts that existing investor protection rules in bilateral agreements and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are used to challenge essential government actions, and that there is little empirical evidence that such rules increase the quality or amount of investment flows.
• The signatories contend that developed countries are attempting to prevent developing countries from using policy tools, such as performance requirements for infant industries and technology transfers, which developed countries themselves previously used to grow.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2003). Civil Society Declaration Calling for No Investment Negotiations at the World Trade Organization. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-signs-on-to-civil-society-declaration-calling-for-no-investment-negotiations-at-the-world-trade-organization/

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. Civil Society Declaration Calling for No Investment Negotiations at the World Trade Organization. 2003. https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-signs-on-to-civil-society-declaration-calling-for-no-investment-negotiations-at-the-world-trade-organization/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=Civil Society Declaration Calling for No Investment Negotiations at the World Trade Organization |date=1 May 2003 |url=https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-signs-on-to-civil-society-declaration-calling-for-no-investment-negotiations-at-the-world-trade-organization/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2003civil, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{Civil Society Declaration Calling for No Investment Negotiations at the World Trade Organization}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2003}, month = may, url = {https://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-signs-on-to-civil-society-declaration-calling-for-no-investment-negotiations-at-the-world-trade-organization/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }