ISLAMABAD, Jan 25: Corporate lobbyists have an undue influence on the current negotiations under the WTO regime contributing to unfair trade rules thus undermining the fight against poverty. This was observed in a report launched by ActionAid International, a non-government organization (NGO), here on Wednesday.

The report came at a time when the heads of states were meeting in Davos on the first day of the World Economic Forum on Wednesday.

The report says there are around 15,000 lobbyists based in Brussels, around one for every official in the European Commission. Over 70 per cent of Brussels lobbyists represent business interests, while only 10 per cent work for public interest groups. The annual corporate lobbying expenditure in Brussels is estimated at euros 750 million to euros 1 billion.

According to the report, in the United States around 17,000 lobbyists work in Washington DC outnumbering the US Congress lawmakers by 30 to one. The corporations and lobby groups spent nearly $13 billion influencing the US Congress and federal officials from 1998 to 2004.

The pharmaceutical industry alone spent over $1 billion lobbying in the US in 2004 and 93 per cent of the official external advisors to the US trade department are from corporate lobby groups and multinational companies.

The report calls on the EU, the US and the WTO Secretariat to curb corporate influence and stop the profits of multinationals being put above the interests of poor people in the current trade talks.

Undemocratic ‘mini-ministerial’, such as the one taking place at Davos, should be scrapped along with the ‘green room’ process of exclusive meetings of small groups of countries to stitch up a deal. Major trade negotiations should only happen during official WTO meetings, demanded the Actionaid.

“Governments meeting at Davos must not be influenced by the business heavyweights in their midst. Unless there is a radical change in the direction of the trade talks and we put poor people’s interests above those of multinationals, then no deal is better than a bad deal,” said Aftab Alam Khan, head of ActionAid’s Trade Justice campaign.

“Multinational corporations are using their economic might to push for trade rules that will hinder, not help poor countries. The EU and the United States promised that the current round of trade talks would combat poverty. Instead, they are colluding with big business to ensure that only rich elites will reap the benefits,” said Dominic Eagleton, ActionAid policy officer and author of the report.