CIEL will discuss the Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement in a panel briefing for the environmental community

March 2010

CIEL will participate in a panel briefing and strategy session for the environmental community on the Proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The panel will be held at Friends of the Earth in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2010 from 1:00pm-3:00pm. Panel members will provide an overview of key areas of concern in existing trade policy, highlighting the chapters with environmental implications, including the Investment, Intellectual Property, Services and Environmental Chapters, as well as provide recommendations for reform. There will also be a strategy session to discuss how the environmental community might best work jointly to achieve these necessary changes.

The United States began the first round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, which is a multilateral free trade agreement with Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. As the first trade agreement to be negotiated by the Obama Administration, the TPP provides an important opportunity to lay the framework for a new approach to U.S. trade policy that truly benefits the environment, fosters development and promotes economic prosperity for workers both in the United States and abroad.

Panel speakers:

• Overview of negotiations - Jeff Vogt, Global Economic Policy Specialist, AFL-CIO
• Investment and "no greater rights" - Margrete Strand-Ranges, Labor, Workers' Rights and Trade Program Director, Sierra Club
• Lessons learned from the May 10th agreement and implementation of the Peru Free Trade Agreement - Andrea Johnson, Forest Campaigns Director, Environmental Investigation Agency
• Services and Intellectual Property - Marcos Orellana, Senior Attorney, Center for International Environmental Law
  

**Please RSVP to Kate Horner at khorner@foe.org or (202) 222 0716 **