South African Archbishop Speaks Out at WTO’s Public Symposium

South African Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Public Symposium in Geneva, Switzerland. At the gathering he urged the WTO to "start playing fair".

The WTO is a global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations and regions. The Public Symposium, which is carrying the main theme of "WTO After 10 Years: Global Problems and Multilateral Solutions" is currently taking place in Geneva from 20 to 22 April 2005. Bishop Njongonkulu Ndungane was invited to speak on the opening day on Wednesday.

In his speech he said: "The greatest institutional challenge to the WTO, as with most of our international organisations, is to put people first."

"But," he asked, "does the international trading system work as well as it could, as well as it ought, in meeting these aims?"

He represented the Trade for People Campaign organised by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance - a group of more than 85 churches supported by many other Christian organisations and groups such as The World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation as well as by Roman Catholic group.

This petition that was presented by Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches last week to the WTO stated, "We believe that trade must promote human well-being, sustainable communities and economic justice, and that governments must be able to set trade policies to safeguard the rights of all people, especially those living in poverty."

The Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference will be held in Hong Kong, China from 13 to 18 December 2005. Many religious leaders are concerned about the process of solving the world's poverty and ethics in trade and business activities. Rev. Kobia presented his opinion, saying: "The biblical standards for economic activity are justice and taking the side of the poor."