NO INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS AT THE WTO Declaration of Non Governmental Groups and Civil Society Movements

A declaration by a coalition of non-governmental organizations and civil society groups explicitly rejecting the launch of negotiations on investment and other 'Singapore Issues' at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Cancun in September 2003.

• 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 document criticizes previous multilateral investment negotiation attempts, such as the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), for prioritizing investor protections over poverty reduction, sustainable development, and corporate accountability.
• The authors claim that WTO members including the US, EU, and Japan focus almost exclusively on granting rights to transnational investors that allow them to bypass national decisions regarding human rights law, environmental directives, macroeconomic policy, and development priorities.
• The declaration asserts that existing investor protection rules in bilateral agreements and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are being used to challenge essential governmental actions, and that there is little empirical evidence that such rules increase the quality or amount of investment flows.
• The document argues that developed countries are attempting to 'kick away the development ladder' by preventing developing countries from using policy tools, such as performance requirements, that developed nations previously used to promote technology transfers and infant industries.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (2003). NO INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS AT THE WTO Declaration of Non Governmental Groups and Civil Society Movements. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Invest_Common_Mar03.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. NO INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS AT THE WTO Declaration of Non Governmental Groups and Civil Society Movements. 2003. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Invest_Common_Mar03.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=NO INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS AT THE WTO Declaration of Non Governmental Groups and Civil Society Movements |date=27 March 2003 |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Invest_Common_Mar03.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centerforinternationalenvironmentallaw2003investment, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{NO INVESTMENT NEGOTIATIONS AT THE WTO Declaration of Non Governmental Groups and Civil Society Movements}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2003}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Invest_Common_Mar03.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }