Following the Friday vote in the House of Representatives which effectively blocked movement (for now) on the Trade Promotion Authority, and more generally, slowed down the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, I was contacted by Dr. Harvey Bale, the well known former Director General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA). In an exchange on Facebook, Dr. Bale took favorable note of the outcome on fast track, and described the vote against fast track as “A very good day, Indeed.” I asked Dr. Bale for a statement we could use publicly for the next round of debates and he provided the following:
“I have the experience of being a former trade negotiator and senior trade official and I conclude that 1) Fast track is a poor tool for conducting trade negotiations — it encourages our negotiators NOT to negotiate hard on behalf of the general welfare (including labor); 2) secrecy of trade agreements is no longer viable, especially in an Administration that claims to give priority to transparency, since its purpose is to stack the deck against those who should be able to fairly use the democratic process to oppose something against their interest; 3) Fast track is immoral: the negative outcomes of negotiations will fall on those who are not or are ill-organized to resist. It favors the powerful over the weak.”
THe IFPMA press release upon his retirement was laudatory: IFPMA director general Dr. Harvey Bale to retire in June 2008, after more than a decade of service April 17th, 2008. Below is his BIO from WIPO:
WIPO Biography — Dr. Harvey E. Bale, Jr.
[Until 2008] Harvey Bale [was] Director-General of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations, IFPMA. The IFPMA represents the research-based pharmaceutical industry and other manufacturers of prescription medicines, through over 55 industry member associations worldwide.
Dr. Bale had prior experience with the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America from 1989 as Senior Vice President for International Affairs. Prior to that he was International Public Policy Manager at Hewlett-Packard, and before joining HP in 1987, he served 12 years in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
He has served on governmental trade, investment and intellectual property advisory committees, on the boards of the Georgetown University Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy and the University of Maryland Graduate School of Management and Technology. Dr. Bale has a B.A. from the Temple University and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland.