Seti Alliance
Coalition pushes for early conclusion of environmental goods trade talks
A petition supported by more than 2500 stakeholders was yesterday presented to Andrew Martin, Chairman of the Environmental Goods Agreement (EGA). The signatures, from a range of companies and individuals from across the globe, support the petition’s plea to governments to engage in the environmental goods trade talks that are now underway in Geneva.
“The surge of interest in this petition is a clear indicator of support and interest from the private sector and civil society in these talks,” said Peter C. Brun, Managing Director of the SETI Alliance.
The petition, launched on 30 September 2015, calls EGA participants to take the following specific actions in the weeks ahead:
- Help facilitate the conclusion of an ambitious Environmental Goods Agreement that eliminates tariffs for a broad range of environmental goods.
- Ensure he EGA is substantial and thus present tariff eliminations beyond other trade agreements.
- Confirm that the Agreement provides for further tariff eliminations on a continuing basis to allow new technologies and innovations to be included in the EGA.
- Broaden the EGA’s scope beyond the tariff lines to other important trade areas such as services, non-tariff-barriers, and other significant trade barriers for environmental technologies.
- Deliver a first significant result no later than at the WTO’s tenth ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, scheduled from 15 to 18 December 2015.
The petition will be presented as a formal contribution from the green and clean private sector to the tenth round of the EGA negotiations, starting Thursday 29 October, as an illustration of significant interest in the talks and support for their early conclusion.
N.B. – The text does not bind the staff of LMFInternational. Only the companies, organizations and associations which sign the press release and which are clearly indicated in the title of the text, are responsible for its information and contents.
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