Letter to OECD from ECA-Watch and Amnesty International re review of the Common Approaches - January 12, 2010

Julian Paisey
OECD, Export Credit Division, Trade Directorate
2, rue André-Pascal
Paris Cedex 16 - France
Brussels, 12 January 2010.

Dear Julian,

Further to your letter of December 2009, you will find below the elements that ECA-Watch and Amnesty International would like to see addressed and revised in the review of the 2007 Revised Council Recommendation on Common Approaches on the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits (Common Approaches). We believe that the 2010 Common Approaches Review must consider these issues in order to improve ECA standards and practices and to meet the objectives set out in the Recommendation.

Letter to IMF Head Strauss-Kahn from over 90 groups re. civil society participation in IMF study on how the financial sector can help pay for the bailouts - November 11, 2009

November 11, 2009

Dominique Strauss-Kahn
Managing Director
International Monetary Fund,
700 19th Street, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20431

Dear Mr. Strauss-Kahn:

Re: Request for civil society participation in IMF study on how the financial sector can help pay for the bailouts 

In September, the Group of 20 (G20), at their summit in Pittsburgh, mandated the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with preparing a report ahead of the next G20 summit in June 2010 to consider “how the financial sector could make a fair and substantial contribution toward paying for any burdens associated with government interventions to repair the banking system.”

Letter to Prime Minister Harper Re: forthcoming UN Conference on the global financial crisis - May 12, 2009

May 12, 2009

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper,
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A2

Re: High-level participation at upcoming UN Conference

Dear Prime Minister Harper:

From June 1-3 the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development will take place in New York. We the undersigned urge you to give this conference the political weight it deserves and to participate as our country’s Head of Government.

Letter to Prime Minister Harper Re: forthcoming G-20 meeting on the global financial crisis - March 26, 2009

March 26, 2009

Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada
Office of the Prime Minister
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Re: Forthcoming G-20 meeting on the global financial crisis

Dear Prime Minister:

As you head to London next week for the second Group of Twenty (G-20) meeting, we are writing to urge Canadian leadership on four key issues related to the impact of the financial crisis on poor countries that we feel have been neglected up until now.

To date, your government has focused primarily on addressing the immediate fallout of the financial crisis, and has taken steps to restore the flow of credit and consumer confidence, boost spending, and create jobs. Canada has also encouraged G-20 countries to avoid protectionist measures that will only exacerbate the current climate.

ECA-Watch letter to the Export Credit Group (ECG) of the OECD Re: Civil society consultation - August 21, 2008

August 21, 2008

Ms. Nicole Bollen
Chairwoman,
Working Party on Export Credits and Credit Guarantees and of the Participants to the Arrangement on Officially Supported Export Credits
OECD
2, rue André Pascal
F-75775 Paris Cedex 16

Fax : c/o 01 44 30 61 58
Email : c/o Xcred.Secretariat@oecd.org

Dear Ms. Bollen,

Thank you for your letter of July 29, inviting ECA-Watch members to participate in an ECG consultation on November 18.

Letter to Minister Flaherty Re: Peer review under the OECD Common Approaches - March 28, 2008

March 28, 2008

The Honourable James Flaherty
Minister of Finance
House of Commons
Wellington St.
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Dear Minister Flaherty:

I am writing with respect to the 2007 OECD Revised Council Recommendation on Common Approaches on the Environment and Officially Supported Export Credits. The Recommendation currently lacks a credible mechanism to monitor Member implementation and I write to urge Canada to support the adoption of a peer review system. I understand that the Secretariat of the OECD Export Credit Group (ECG) intends to include the issue of peer review for the Common Approaches in the agenda of the upcoming ECG meeting in April 2008. A peer review system is essential to generate credible information for use in the 2010 report to the OECD Council on the implementation of the Recommendation.

Letter to UN Secretary-General on external debt - February 29, 2008

February 29, 2008
The Honorable Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
United Nations
New York, NY

Dear Secretary General:

At the end of this year, governments of the world will meet in Doha, Qatar to evaluate progress in implementing the Monterrey Consensus. One of the critical elements of this consensus is the issue of external debt and its role in financing for development.

Second Letter from EDC to HI Re: "Dirty Business, Dirty Practices" - November 5, 2007

November 5, 2007

Ms. Karyn Keenan
Program Officer
Halifax Initiative
104-153 Chapel Street
Ottawa ON KIN 1H5

Dear Ms. Keenan:

This is in response to your letter of September 17. Your letter contains many questions and comments which I will answer by focusing on the key issues that you raise.

The first issue raised refers to Export Development Canada’s practices related to public consultations and whether this is a requirement of our environmental review process.

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