Complexities of trade need ethical guides, broader view, speakers say

Published: 2005-09-09

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The cardinal who heads the justice and solidarity department of the Latin American bishops' council said at an international conference on the moral aspects of trade that ethical approaches to trade cannot be imposed from the outside. "Ethics have to come from within," said Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, at the Sept. 7-8 conference in Washington. "They can't be imposed from without." Other sessions at the conference touched on trade integration of the Americas, the effects of trade agreements on economic growth, agriculture, the environment, indigenous populations and intellectual property concerns. The gathering was sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Latin American bishops' council, known as CELAM, and the Inter-American Development Bank. It was the first time the three organizations sponsored such a meeting together.

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