26-06-03

Barrett supports ‘24 Hours for Trade Justice’ campaign

John Barrett, Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West and member of the House of Commons International Development Committee, will be fully supporting this weekend's "24 Hours for Trade Justice" campaign.

The campaign has been organised by members of the Trade Justice Movement, which includes charities, development and environmental agencies, churches and others.  It follows the massive lobby of parliament last year and comes ahead of the World Trade Organisation talks in Mexico in September.

Mr Barrett will be meeting with members of the local trade justice lobby during a special surgery in his constituency office on Saturday. 

In a statement, John Barrett MP, said:

"The United Nations estimates that if trade rules were made to work for poorer countries, it could be worth up to 14 times the total amount of donated in aid and over 30 times the amount that has to be paid in debt repayments.

"By developing a genuinely liberal international trade policy, we can allow major opportunities for growth and development in the parts of the world which need it most.  However, one of the biggest obstacles to achieving this are the two largest trading blocks, namely the United States and the European Union, which remain overly protectionist, especially over agriculture.

"Properly opening our markets to poorer countries through real reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, reducing export subsidies and tackling import tariffs should be the top priority for the next round of trade talks in Cancun in the autumn.

"An increase in the African share of world exports by just 1% would be enough to raise over 5 times the total amount of aid given to that region.  That shows the shear scale of the prize that can be won if proper action is taken.  For too long, the Government has talked about making international trade fairer, now is the time to get on with it."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• More information on the Trade Justice Lobby can be found at
  www.tradejusticemovement.org.uk/