Seattle 99 • Volume 3 • Number 46 • 24th November 1999
Civil Society at WTO Ministerial
NGO Seattle Update
For non-governmental organisations travelling to Seattle for the Third WTO Ministerial, the basement of the United Methodist Church at 811 5th Ave. will be a central repository for NGO information. Space will be available for groups wishing to display information. If you would like to reserve space, contact darci@citizen.org or fax (1-202) 547-7392.
The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has set up an International Media Centre at the Town Hall, located two blocks away from the WTO Ministerial Convention Center at 8th and Seneca. The telephone number is (1-206) 262-0188. For information on up-to-the- minute TV and radio coverage during the Ministerial visit: http://www.wtowatch.org or http://www.iatp.org
WTO Official NGO Symposium
On Monday, 29 November, the Seattle Symposium on International Trade begins at 9 am. The symposium is organized by the WTO Secretariat and will have many ministers in attendance. It is co-chaired by Alec Erwin, Minister of Trade and Industry of South Africa and Mark Van Putten of the National Wildlife Federation. All accredited NGOs are invited to attend. Participants may ask questions of the panelists, but must do so in writing, identifying themselves and their organization on the forms that will be distributed. The panel chair will then call on the participant to hear the question or comment. Please see http://svca.wto- ministerial.org/english/ngo_e/ngo_e.htm for additional information on the Symposium. ICTSD’s website has a listing of daily NGO events (www.ictsd.org), as does the IATP website, (www.wtowatch.org).
NGO Resources
The NGO Center (at the Madison Renaissance Hotel) will be open from 7:30 am to 12 midnight each day and is open to all accredited NGOs. The NGO Center includes a ‘cyber café’ that provides access to close to 50 computer stations with several printers, copiers and fax machines, free of charge. The WTO will hold daily briefings at 6:30 p.m. on the ballroom (lower lobby) level. NGOs should check the bulletin boards at the NGO Center for updates on logistical announcements and briefings. The NGO Center also has a permanent broadcast link with the Ministerial that will provide real-time viewing of each of the Plenary sessions. ICTSD will hold daily NGO briefings at 8:00 a.m. in the NGO Center.
NGO Access to the Ministerial
There are 200 NGO seats available to attend each of the opening day plenary sessions of the Ministerial on November 30. The morning plenary will take place at the Paramount Theater (unlike the Trade and Convention Center where the other Ministerial events will be) and will begin at 10 a.m. The afternoon session will be at the Trade and Convention Center and begin at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for the 400 seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis, to be distributed beginning at 8:00 am on Tuesday, November 30 at the NGO Center. NGOs must choose to receive a ticket for EITHER the morning or the afternoon sessions.
WTO Documents
The WTO will distribute all official documents on a table outside the cyber café at the NGO Center, and the WTO website also has many of the relevant documents (www.wto.org).
NGO Input to the Ministerial
The WTO Secretariat has offered to ensure that any NGO position papers they receive will be widely distributed among government delegates and press; a full list of NGO papers received to date is available on the WTO website. WTO Ministerial EventsICTSD’s list of events taking place around the WTO’s Third Ministerial Conference in Seattle from 30 November - 3 December 1999 is now fully updated and available online at: http://www.ictsd.org/ministerial/seattle/seattlecalendar.htm. Approximately 60 additional events have been posted this week.