BY SEAN HEALY
SYDNEY — The giant transnational corporations will come under the spotlight in September, when more than 100 academics, researchers and activists from across the region gather here for the third conference of the Asia-Pacific Research Network.
The group's first conference, held in Manila in August 1999, focused on strategies for the November 1999 ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle. The second conference was held a year later in Jakarta, and concentrated on the international financial institutions.
This year, the conference focuses on the powers behind such institutions as the WTO and the International Monetary Fund, with the theme "Corporate Power or People's Power? Strategies and Action on TNCs".
The network comprises 35 member-organisations, all of which are non-government research centres from across East, South and South-East Asia and the Pacific. Among the more prominent are the Third World Network, whose director is the noted WTO critic Martin Khor, and INFID, the International NGO Forum for Indonesian Development.
The Sydney conference, which proceeds from September 27 to 29, is hosted by network member AID/WATCH, a non-government organisation which monitors the operations of multilateral institutions and Australian "aid" money in the region.
According to conference organiser Melita Grant, "The intention of the conference is to create a series of open-ended debates focused on strategy, that will culminate in concrete proposals for research and action."
The conference coincides with the opening of the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank in Washington, DC. Conference organisers say that there may be public protest action in Sydney targeting the World Bank and the impact of its policies on the world's poor.
For more information about the conference, call AID/WATCH on (02) 9387 5210 or email