From: lora.sullivan@enron.com
To: kenneth.cessac@enron.com, steven.kean@enron.com, terence.thorn@enron.com
Date: 1999-11-30 10:49:00+00:00
Subject: WTO Notes

Gentlemen:

Thought Don Deline's report would be of interest to you.  He plans on doing a 
report daily.  The demonstrators are out in force this morning and we plan to 
stay as far away from them as possible.

Joe Hillings

---------------------- Forwarded by Lora Sullivan/Corp/Enron on 11/30/99 
11:53 AM ---------------------------
   
	
	
	From:  Chris Long                           11/29/99 08:29 PM
	

To: Lora Sullivan/Corp/Enron@ENRON
cc:  

Subject: WTO Notes



INSIDE (AND OUTSIDE) THE WTO

 The World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting began yesterday in 
Seattle ) well, almost.  An event scheduled for Monday was delayed for four 
hours because of a breach of security. The official opening will not occur 
until today but the &behind the scenes8 meetings and negotiations began 
Monday November 29th and will continue until December 3rd.  In reality, there 
are two events going on.  One is a circus / media event taking place in the 
streets of Seattle and the second is the serious trade negotiations going on 
between the trade ministers of 135 countries.  There are many important 
people appearing this week to include President Clinton.  Even Fiedel Castro 
has been invited to speak at the University of Washington which is located 
less than a mile from the WTO activities.
 The circus events in the street are designed to sever the communications 
between world trade officials and the rest of the world.  While it has its 
comic side, its basic aim is anything but funny.  If the true story of trade 
cannot be told, the only view that the world gets of the WTO is that it is an 
event not to be taken seriously.  The street events are sort of like the 
shell on an egg.  They prevent you from seeing the egg itself but the shell 
is not the substance of the egg.
 In an attempt to make certain the media events in the street do not succeed 
as far as Halliburton is concerned, I will attempt to give you a fair and 
balanced account of what is really going on for the next four days.  This is 
truly an interesting ministerial round of negotiations in that even Seattle 
can,t seem to get a grip on what they stand for.  They bid on and won the 
right to host the WTO this year and it will mean millions in income for the 
city.  There are signs along the streets welcoming the WTO.  At the same 
time, the city of Seattle and the country it is located in, are heavily pro 
union and they are sponsoring a huge &anti-WTO8 rally.  They have granted 
permits for anti-WTO parades on busy streets during rush hours which makes 
many downtown workers less than happy.  These workers then vent their 
frustration against the WTO for causing the streets to be blocked.  Life in 
Seattle can best be described as &schizophrenic.8  
INSIDE THE WTO
 Here is the &inside Story8.  From November 30th to December 3rd, most of the 
world,s trade representatives are meeting in Seattle in private.  Meetings 
will not be in the open for fear of disruption.  Demonstrators then use this 
fact to say the talks are secrete because they are really all about world 
dominance.  The truth is that the trade ministers will be reviewing the 
global trading system and attempting to insure its dynamism and 
responsiveness in the years to come.  Talks actually began in Geneva earlier 
this year but the formal meetings to reach agreement will be this week.
 For 50 years, the WTO ) formally known as the GATT for &General Agreement on 
Tariffs and Trade8 has attempted to open world trade markets and set 
predictable and stable rules for trade.  During this 50 year period, there 
has been an 18 fold growth in international trade.  This was a reversal of 
what is now widely recognized as disastrous policies of the 1930s when 
increased trade barriers, discrimination among trading partners, and an 
absence of agreed rules helped fuel the Great Depression.
 The beginning of this ministerial round finds some important issues to be 
resolved in order to eliminate barriers that currently inhibit trade.  The 
largest barrier is agriculture because European and Japanese farmers are 
heavily subsidized so that they can compete with the United States.  The 
United States Trade Representative (USTR) office listed seven other issues of 
concern to be discussed and agree upon during the negotiations.  Most 
important to Halliburton is the issue of services.  Our company performs 
energy services all over the world but the WTO has never looked at trade 
barriers in the energy services area.  The USTR representative present at the 
kickoff meeting on Monday morning was asked if energy services were being 
discussed in this round and she assured us that it would be a significant 
part of the new negotiations.  The USTR is hopeful that this week will end 
with agreements between all parties as to the issues to be resolved over the 
next three years and they are confident of success.
OUTSIDE THE WTO
 A small band of demonstrators, most dressed like skeletons, animals, and 
turtles, took to the streets on Sunday November 28th for a preview of things 
to come.  They demonstrated in front of the GAP clothing store downtown.  (A 
number of the demonstrators were seen to be wearing GAP jeans and jackets 
under their skeleton suits).  They were demonstrating against GAP,s use of 
&slave labor.8  Street interviews indicated that no one was to articulate 
about where these slaves were.  The crowd of about 200 was well organized, if 
uninformed, and moved to an abandon warehouse where they broke into the 
building in order to occupy it.  Police did not attempt to eject them ) they 
simply cut of the power and water to this old, concrete, damp, and cold 
building.  In addition, homeless people through out Seattle were moved during 
the weekend for the duration of the WTO in order to allow demonstrators the 
opportunity to occupy their places on the streets.  It seems many of the 
demonstrators had neglected to make reservations elsewhere.  Rain is expected 
Tuesday and Wednesday which should add to the demonstrators woes.
 Seattle morning news carried a very level broadcast listing the 
environmental and labor demands of the demonstrators and also relating the 
fact that $42 billion in trade is done by Washington each year.  $258 million 
in grain alone was sold to Japan during 1998.  Somewhere in excess of 1/3 of 
Washington,s economy is based on foreign trade and they are now the third 
largest trading state behind California and Texas.  This all adds to the 
schizophrenia that is beginning to be known as Seattle.