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Enron Mail |
Gentlemen:
Thought Don Deline's report would be of interest to you. He plans on doing= a=20 report daily. The demonstrators are out in force this morning and we plan = to=20 stay as far away from them as possible. Joe Hillings ---------------------- Forwarded by Lora Sullivan/Corp/Enron on 11/30/99=20 11:53 AM --------------------------- =20 =09 =09 =09From: Chris Long 11/29/99 08:29 PM =09 To: Lora Sullivan/Corp/Enron@ENRON cc: =20 Subject: WTO Notes INSIDE (AND OUTSIDE) THE WTO The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting began yesterday in= =20 Seattle =01) well, almost. An event scheduled for Monday was delayed for f= our=20 hours because of a breach of security. The official opening will not occur= =20 until today but the =01&behind the scenes=018 meetings and negotiations beg= an=20 Monday November 29th and will continue until December 3rd. In reality, the= re=20 are two events going on. One is a circus / media event taking place in the= =20 streets of Seattle and the second is the serious trade negotiations going o= n=20 between the trade ministers of 135 countries. There are many important=20 people appearing this week to include President Clinton. Even Fiedel Castr= o=20 has been invited to speak at the University of Washington which is located= =20 less than a mile from the WTO activities. The circus events in the street are designed to sever the communications= =20 between world trade officials and the rest of the world. While it has its= =20 comic side, its basic aim is anything but funny. If the true story of trad= e=20 cannot be told, the only view that the world gets of the WTO is that it is = an=20 event not to be taken seriously. The street events are sort of like the=20 shell on an egg. They prevent you from seeing the egg itself but the shell= =20 is not the substance of the egg. In an attempt to make certain the media events in the street do not succee= d=20 as far as Halliburton is concerned, I will attempt to give you a fair and= =20 balanced account of what is really going on for the next four days. This i= s=20 truly an interesting ministerial round of negotiations in that even Seattle= =20 can=01,t seem to get a grip on what they stand for. They bid on and won th= e=20 right to host the WTO this year and it will mean millions in income for the= =20 city. There are signs along the streets welcoming the WTO. At the same=20 time, the city of Seattle and the country it is located in, are heavily pro= =20 union and they are sponsoring a huge =01&anti-WTO=018 rally. They have gra= nted=20 permits for anti-WTO parades on busy streets during rush hours which makes= =20 many downtown workers less than happy. These workers then vent their=20 frustration against the WTO for causing the streets to be blocked. Life in= =20 Seattle can best be described as =01&schizophrenic.=018 =20 INSIDE THE WTO Here is the =01&inside Story=018. From November 30th to December 3rd, mos= t of the=20 world=01,s trade representatives are meeting in Seattle in private. Meetin= gs=20 will not be in the open for fear of disruption. Demonstrators then use thi= s=20 fact to say the talks are secrete because they are really all about world= =20 dominance. The truth is that the trade ministers will be reviewing the=20 global trading system and attempting to insure its dynamism and=20 responsiveness in the years to come. Talks actually began in Geneva earlie= r=20 this year but the formal meetings to reach agreement will be this week. For 50 years, the WTO =01) formally known as the GATT for =01&General Agre= ement on=20 Tariffs and Trade=018 has attempted to open world trade markets and set=20 predictable and stable rules for trade. During this 50 year period, there= =20 has been an 18 fold growth in international trade. This was a reversal of= =20 what is now widely recognized as disastrous policies of the 1930s when=20 increased trade barriers, discrimination among trading partners, and an=20 absence of agreed rules helped fuel the Great Depression. The beginning of this ministerial round finds some important issues to be= =20 resolved in order to eliminate barriers that currently inhibit trade. The= =20 largest barrier is agriculture because European and Japanese farmers are=20 heavily subsidized so that they can compete with the United States. The=20 United States Trade Representative (USTR) office listed seven other issues = of=20 concern to be discussed and agree upon during the negotiations. Most=20 important to Halliburton is the issue of services. Our company performs=20 energy services all over the world but the WTO has never looked at trade=20 barriers in the energy services area. The USTR representative present at t= he=20 kickoff meeting on Monday morning was asked if energy services were being= =20 discussed in this round and she assured us that it would be a significant= =20 part of the new negotiations. The USTR is hopeful that this week will end= =20 with agreements between all parties as to the issues to be resolved over th= e=20 next three years and they are confident of success. OUTSIDE THE WTO A small band of demonstrators, most dressed like skeletons, animals, and= =20 turtles, took to the streets on Sunday November 28th for a preview of thing= s=20 to come. They demonstrated in front of the GAP clothing store downtown. (= A=20 number of the demonstrators were seen to be wearing GAP jeans and jackets= =20 under their skeleton suits). They were demonstrating against GAP=01,s use = of=20 =01&slave labor.=018 Street interviews indicated that no one was to articu= late=20 about where these slaves were. The crowd of about 200 was well organized, = if=20 uninformed, and moved to an abandon warehouse where they broke into the=20 building in order to occupy it. Police did not attempt to eject them =01) = they=20 simply cut of the power and water to this old, concrete, damp, and cold=20 building. In addition, homeless people through out Seattle were moved duri= ng=20 the weekend for the duration of the WTO in order to allow demonstrators the= =20 opportunity to occupy their places on the streets. It seems many of the=20 demonstrators had neglected to make reservations elsewhere. Rain is expect= ed=20 Tuesday and Wednesday which should add to the demonstrators woes. Seattle morning news carried a very level broadcast listing the=20 environmental and labor demands of the demonstrators and also relating the= =20 fact that $42 billion in trade is done by Washington each year. $258 milli= on=20 in grain alone was sold to Japan during 1998. Somewhere in excess of 1/3 o= f=20 Washington=01,s economy is based on foreign trade and they are now the thir= d=20 largest trading state behind California and Texas. This all adds to the=20 schizophrenia that is beginning to be known as Seattle. =20
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