Chris Martin Urges Fair Trade Ahead Of Talks

Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has demanded action to make international trade rules fairer for developing countries.

The singer's call came as finance ministers from wealthy countries met in London ahead of trade talks in Hong Kong. Martin played a leading part in the Live 8 campaign demanding action on Africa in the run-up to this summer's G8 summit.

The debt cancellation agreed at the Gleneagles gathering was "tremendous", he said. But aid increases also announced in Gleneagles would mean little without a change to international trade rules, he suggested.

"Trade, which is the least glamorous and the least easily understood of those issues, takes away a lot of aid," he said. "So you can give Mozambique a billion dollars in aid. You can also take away two billion dollars in trade by not allowing it to have proper access to your market or by dumping, in this case, cotton on their country when they don't need it."Martin said he refused to be pessimistic about the Hong Kong talks, which aid agencies fear will not produce the promised breakthrough on fair trade. He also defended the achievements of Live 8.

"Of course you can be disappointed, you can always be disappointed," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "You can be number three in the charts when you really want to be number two. You can be beaten by Crazy Frog in the charts, which happened to us. Or you can say 'Well, great, we are at number two.' I'm not going to admit disappointment. I want to remain positive. Everyone else can be negative."

Martin also defended politicians' involvement in the Live 8 campaign. "I have grown up, in 28 years, seeing punk rock records be musically brilliant and have an aggressive political message that does nothing," said the Coldplay frontman.

Phil Bloomer, of Oxfam, said: "Chris Martin is right to say that world trade rules have got to change so that they work for poor countries as well as rich. The offers from the US and the EU fall scandalously short of what is needed to address the inequalities of world trade. Rich countries have got to offer more at the WTO's (World Trade Organisation) ministerial meeting in Hong Kong in a few days' time."

Source: http://news.scotsman.com