Friday, March 16, 2012

Japan's PM Noda Demands WTO Do Something About "Baseless Rumors"

What would WTO do? Force countries to buy Japanese produce to "share the pain"?

From Jiji Tsushin (3/15/2012):

WTOに風評被害阻止を要請=首相

Prime Minister requests WTO to block "baseless rumors"

 野田佳彦首相は15日、首相官邸で世界貿易機関(WTO)のラミー事務局長と会談した。首相は、東京電力福島第1原発事故に伴い、日本食品の厳しい輸入制限を行う国が依然多いと指摘。WTOに対し、ルールにのっとった公正な取り扱いを呼び掛けるよう要請した。

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with Mr. Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The prime minister pointed out that there were still many countries with import restriction on food items from Japan after the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant accident, and requested that WTO call for a fair treatment based on the rules.

 これに対し、ラミー事務局長は「WTOを積極的に活用してほしい。プロセスなどに問題があれば、事務局長としても役割を果たしたい」と応じた。

Mr. Lamy said to the prime minister, "Please feel free to use WTO. If there are problems in the process I will intervene as Director-General. "

WTO is all but dead, with the contentious Doha Round going nowhere for 10 years.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's an idea for Noda-san: Why not make an effort to (1) contain the radiation where it sits, rather than spread it all around Japan by trucking waste to feed incinerators in places that don't have much radiation, (2) actually clean up the radiation in places where it sits, instead of simply telling people not to worry, and (3) stop farmers from growing and selling products from farms that have radiation higher than Kansai and Kyushu. Oh and while he's at it, swear off nuclear power, starting immediately to show the world that JAPAN has learned the lesson and will take radioactive contamination more seriously from this point forward. There is so much they could do better to improve / restore Japan's brand. But until they recognize that even low dose radiation is a problem, why would anyone buy food from Japan? Wake up Japan. The customer (or ex-customer) is always right. No nukes!

Anonymous said...

Surely the WTO is aware that peddling dangerous and contaminated food would open them up to litigation.

Anonymous said...

Lip services. It is not the work of the WTO to "block baseless rumours", if there are, that would be the work of the WHO, but impossible in this case as they are not alowed to overpass the IAEA.
That the WTO is dead or just marooned, it would need voodoo for the IAEA to make its watchdog out of it.

Anonymous said...

Probably the FREE rice (with its free fallout contamination) given to third world countries will improve the Japanese outlook....

Is the thought to "sterilize" with fallout rice in the birth control planning part?

Anonymous said...

We saw the Japanese government become complacent over nuclear safety because they came to believe their own rhetoric about nuclear plants being safe. Now these same "leaders" are sadly believing their irradiated farm products and toxic garbage are safe. Stop drinking the cool-aid....

Anonymous said...

Assignment for anyone out there who lives near one of these pro-nuclear politicians or their families: I would love to see video of someone from their households in a supermarket making a purchasing decision. If they don't know they're on camera, I bet at least some of them would shun the Fukushima produce for something grown in Kyushu.

Anonymous said...

Being pro-nuke and shunning Fukushima produce are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Anonymous said...

you'RE all idiots, otherwise you;d take these behaviors as attempts on your, or Kids or whatevers life and hang these mfrs up high
LIKE SO DAMN INSANE "SADDAM"

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