Liberalisation Of Trade in Services: Corporate Power at Work

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AMSTERDAM, 17 October 2001 -- The United Kingdom is home to a particularly influential services industry lobby, which operates through an organisation called International Financial Services, London (IFSL). Two IFSL working groups, the Liberalisation of Trade in Services (LOTIS) Committee and the High-Level LOTIS Group, constitute a veritable corporate-state alliance.

Based upon internal minutes of LOTIS Committee and High-Level LOTIS Group meetings, the GATSwatch research paper Liberalisation Of Trade in Services: Corporate Power at Work shows how senior UK government officials work closely with their business 'counterparts' to promote the interests of the UK financial services industry. The minutes also reveal how earlier this year, these government officials have allied with business in planning a campaign to defeat civil society opposition against the WTO services negotiations.

• Read paper online or download paper as zipped Word Document

• Mirror of the IFSL web pages (as of 4 May 2001), containing the internal minutes of LOTIS Committee and High-Level LOTIS Group meetings between April 1999 and February 2001.

GATSwatch is a joint project of Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute
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