NEW DELHi : Global governments are secretly into a little-know mega trade deal that poses a threat to internet to intermet freedom and is a boon to corporate interests, a leading American Journal reported citing a just-leaked US proposal.
The Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), under discussion between a 50-country subset to World Trade Organisation (WET) members for nearly two years, is so secretive that its talks are not even announced to the public, the Jourmal said. Kept in the dark about the deal, the global public will be hugely impacted by its provision, the journal said. The Journal quoted Mr Melinda St. Louis, international Campaigns Director for Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, that what these closed-door negotiations do is to put in place rules for global governance, that affect a whole host of issues that are not about trade, at all, such as privacy.financial stability and much more. St Louis said there is extreme industry influence in these closed-door trade negotiation process. “On the US side, there are more than 500 corporate advisers who have access to these texts while the public and many elected officials are locked out,” he said.
All that is publicly known about the content of the TISA pact was exposed through leaks, the first of which was publised by Wikileaks in June and revealed that negotiators aim to further deregulate global financial markets. The latest leak shows that negotiators are also taking aim at internet freedom, the Journal said. TISA text on’E-Commerce, Teachnology Transfer, Gross-border Data Flows and Net Nautrality, proposed by the US Trade Representative in April, was publised by the Associated Whistle blowing Press, a non-profit organisation with local platforms in iceland and Spain.
(AGENCIES)
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