In December 2006, campigner William Wilson met with his local MP, we asked him to write about his experience.
I went with a group of four other young people from my local area to lobby my MP and under-secretary of state for International Development, Gareth Thomas on trade justice. We wanted to show our support for changes in the rules that govern world trade, to ensure that they are written in a way that serves the interests of poor countries and the environment.
The main issue we talked about was the UK government’s position on Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), trade deals the EU is currently negotiating with countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific, as well as touching on the state of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation since their suspension in July 2006.
We stated our opposition to how EPAs are being used to force developing countries to open their markets before their economies are ready. We asked what alternatives or changes the government was offering to EPAs in their current form.
Gareth told us that he and Ian McCartney, the Minister of State for Trade, had written a letter to the EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, stating the UK government’s concerns. He promised to watch upcoming EPA negotiations very carefully, saying he would work to ensure EPA’s are not used to put pressure on poor countries in future, instead saying that countries should be given a period of up to 20 years to develop their own markets before having to open them up.
Arranging to meet with Gareth Thomas was surprisingly easy; all it took was two phone calls and a short time to prepare questions and familiarise ourselves with the issues beforehand. This was made a lot easier by Tearfund helpfully providing us with much of the information we needed.