Start of Summit Press Conference with WEED and other European NGOs

13.12.2005: Europe’s corporate trade agenda for Hong Kong: Opening Press Conference, TUESDAY 13 December (1 p.m.), Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, NGO centre, room 409

	The Seattle to Brussels Network

On the opening day of the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference, the Seattle to Brussels Network (a network of over 80 European civil NGOs and campaigning groups) will set out the demands of European civil society groups for the talks in Hong Kong. They will explode the myth of the ‘development round’ of trade talks and expose the real motivation behind the EU’s negotiating position.

The Network will launch its new report ‘The EU corporate trade agenda’ which shows that the EU’s current position on trade talks in agriculture, services and non-agricultural market access are based on the demands of European business and corporate lobby groups rather than developing countries, the environment and people.

Speakers:

• Christina Deckwirth, WEED, Germany and the author of the report
  

• Pete Hardstaff, World Development Movement
  

• José Bove, European Farmer’s Coordination
  

• Alexandra Wandel, Friends of the Earth Europe
  

• John Hilary, War on Want
  

• Amandine Bach, Women in Development Europe (chair)
  

The speakers will be available for individual interviews after the briefing in English, French or German. Copies of the report will be available at the media conference

For further information, please contact:

Christina Deckwirth, +49 (0)163-6941423, in HongKong +852 9535 1278 (10-22 December)

The Seattle to Brussels (S2B) Network is a pan-European network campaigning to promote a sustainable, socially and democratically accountable system of trade.

For the Seattle to Brussels report "The EU corporate trade agenda"

Report