U. S. consumer rights chief elected president of global consumer body

TIMES INT'L

By Jainarine Deonauth in Hong Kong

United States Consumer Rights Head Jim Guest was elected president of Consumers International, an organisation that is involved in the fight for consumer rights around the world.

Newly-elected president of CI, Jim Guest

Guest used the opportunity, after being confirmed as president, to call on the global consumer movement “not to take ‘no’ for an answer”, as he outlined his campaigning vision as the new president of Consumers International (CI). Guest accepted the presidency after an uncontested election at the Consumers International World Congress in Hong Kong.

In his first address as president of the international consumer body, Guest quoted Martin Luther King, saying, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, while underlining the crucial role the organisation and its members play in lobbying for better policies and programmes for the benefit of consumers worldwide.Outlining his intentions, Guest said: “Consumers International must play to its strengths, its diversity, its passion, and its persistence.

“CI is in the campaigning business for the long haul, and needs to be the kind of organisation that does not take ‘no’ for an answer.” Guest added that the balance of economic power in the world was too weighted against consumers in relation to corporations, and it was CI’s job to fight for the balance to be shifted. He then committed himself and the newly- elected council to work more diligently in addressing all issues affecting consumers.

Guest, who will serve a four-year term, is also the CEO of Consumers Union of the United States, publisher of a number of consumer reports and journals, and the one-time vice president of CI. He is joined on the CI Council by the heads of thirteen other national consumer organisations, representing various regions of the world. CI is an independent global campaigning voice for consumers. With over 220 member organisations in 115 countries, the organisation says it is seeking to build a powerful international consumer movement to help protect and empower consumers everywhere.

The Guyana Consumers Association is a member of CI, and is currently being represented by Jainarine Deonauth at the World Congress.

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