International:

The MAI a bureaucratic beast of burden

See also links at 5th December 1997

The MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT being negotiated since 1995 in Paris by the 29 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is to be ready for ratification in April 1998. The Agreement is intended to remove obstacles to international investment among its signatories by eliminating investor (corporate) performance requirements and discriminatory treatment of investors by host nations. It incorporates a powerful dispute resolution system which would allow any investor to sue the government of its host nation if it considers laws or regulations to be discriminatory and detrimental to immediate or projected profits. The Agreement would therefore disable regional development and national measures to protect the well-being of people, create employment, safeguard small business, conserve resources and protect the environment. Once signed, the MAI cannot be denounced for five years. Investments under the MAI would remain protected for a further fifteen years.

The parties negotiating the MAI represent corporate interests exclusively. Consequently the MAI is a matter of great concern to organizations dedicated to protecting democracy, human rights and the environment.

The draft text of the MAI was first released to the public in October 1997. In November 1997, the Canadian government held public hearings on the MAI in Ottawa before a Sub-committee of the Standing Committee on International Trade and Investment. The resulting Parliamentary report and recommendations, and the draft text of the MAI, are now available on this Canadian site.

The secrecy with which the MAI has been undertaken by Australian public officials working for the treasury department under both the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party should be of great concern to all Australians.

While Canadians have had the opportunity to debate the issue someone deliberately left the lights out here in Australia.

While Australians are pushed through an expensive little bureaucratic exercise on shaping the future of our constitution, the real debate goes unpublicised. The mainstream media have a lot to win from a successful MAI. Rupert Murdoch's media empire will be able to takeover or destroy any remaining competition quite legally.

Our democracy, constitution and everything else will become beholden to a man who is not even an Australian citizen - following the way that many major Australian companies have already gone - being run by American imports.

Then we hear in today's news that the first part of our commitment to South Korea - some Au$500 million will be handed over to stop that country going into bankruptcy.

While hundreds of thousands of Australians cannot afford to enjoy Christmas because of government inspired cut-backs here we are throwing hundreds of millions of dollars at a country which despises us.

There is something very sick that has already happened to our economy and our nation, with the Au$ trading at about 65 US cents - after trading at US 80 cents just 12 months ago here we are spending big on bailing out others. Not because we want to, but because we are told to - by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It is no longer our Au $, it is already beholden to the IMF because of our Paul Keating inspired Au$260 billion deficit - which the IMF can call up at any time to bankrupt this nation - just like the threat now facing South Korea.

Some quotes from the debate from which Australians have been kept in the dark:

The High Stakes Of World Trade by Renato Ruggiero [Mr. Ruggiero is director general of the World Trade Organization.]:
"These rules, agreed to by all 130 member countries of the WTO (World Trade Organisation) and subsequently ratified by all national legislatures, actually serve to extend national sovereignty beyond borders and ensure that members' interests are protected in the global marketplace. In time, the protection of those interests will be extended to the 28 countries, including China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, that are in the process of negotiating their accession to the WTO."

Commentaries by ODC Staff and Program Participants OECD's Multilateral Agreement on Investment and Its Work on Trade and Competition Policy Remarks by Mr. William Witherell Director, Financial, Fiscal, and Enterprise Affairs, OECD:
"The MAI will establish a broad multilateral framework for international investment with high standards for the liberalisation of investment regimes and investment protection, with effective dispute settlement procedures. Thus it is intended that the MAI will provide a "level playing field" for international investors, with uniform rules on both market access and legal security. The rules will be legally enforceable, allowing recourse to international arbitration to settle disputes."

Legal Opinion on the MAI Prepared for the Council of Canadians by Barry Appleton:
"Finally, as long as tough provisions on expropriation and compensation remain at the core of the MAI, the strength and value of any exception or reservation is moot. Under the MAI, parties agree not to “expropriate directly or indirectly” or “take any measure or measures having equivalent effect” against the interest of any foreign investor. Even if a Government’s action is taken for “public purpose” – e.g. the Canadian ban on MMT – and only involves potential lost future profits, corporations will have the right to sue governments for substantial compensation before a binding international tribunal with the power to enforce its rulings. The Canadian Government fully supports this key provision of the MAI."

Sneaky treaty would entrench TNCs' rights, privileges:
"The MAI would give transnational corporations expansive new rights and powers, and burden nations with new obligations owed to corporations.

"It would require nations to give foreign investors access to all economic sectors.

"It would abolish the right of citizens and governments to control the entry, conditions, behaviour, and operations of TNCs in their country. (This right is especially vital for developing countries, since the MAI would effectively close the possibility of building domestic capacity.)"

JOINT NGO STATEMENT ON THE MULTILATERAL AGREEMENT ON INVESTMENT (MAI):
"As a result, the draft MAI is completely unbalanced. It elevates the rights of investors far above those of governments, local communities, citizens, workers and the environment. The MAI will severely undermine even the meagre progress made towards sustainable development since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992."

Personal trivia, from the global office:

Another beautiful day in paradise.

Have a good one.

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