Francine Mestrum

Hearing with civil society and the private sector, 2 October 2007

‘Ultimately, the success of our work is measured by the difference it makes to the poor in developing countries”, UNCTAD’s Secretary General Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi told delegates at the start of the meeting. “Many of the world’s poorest countries continue to be left out of growth”, he added.

Yet, reading UNCTAD’s interesting reports on Trade and Development and the economies of the Least Developed Countries, one can think that the somewhat marginalized organization knows most of the answers. It published reports on the ‘immiserizing impact” of globalization, on the “poverty trap”, on the importance of capital inputs, on the need for policy space etc.

The hearing with civil society and the private sector did not really reflect the knowledge basis of UNCTAD. The participants were very divergent, a small number of member countries, a small number of private sector representatives, a large number of mostly unknown NGOs. Fortunately, some of the major NGOs were also there and participated actively in the debates.

The hearing was well prepared. Two topics were discussed with clear questions and introducing speakers. The hearing was held under ‘Chatham House Rules’, which means that participants are free to use the information received but not to identify the speakers.

The first topic was ‘regionalism’, with questions on the role of regionalism in the light of free trade agreements, the impact on developing countries, national policies, and so on. It was stressed that South-South agreements can be more successful than North-South agreements and that the inequality of partners can be a serious problem. The new agreements are very detrimental to developing countries, since the European Union for instance, introduces the rejected Singapore issues (public procurement, investment rules, etc.) in its proposals for partnership agreements. This explains that more and more countries are looking for alternatives to the neoliberal globalisation. It was also stressed that much of the regional trade is not captured in the official statistics, since a good part of it is illegal.

But what is meant by ‘policy space’ an important northern trading partner asked. Countries do remain sovereign and can refuse all that is proposed to them. They know perfectly well what they are agreeing with. Regional and multilateral trade can help poor countries to build strong economies and strong markets.

The second topic was globalization and the ways to capture its benefits. Questions concerned the policies needed for an equitable distribution of the benefits, the costs of the Doha Round and the enabling environment.

The huge and growing global inequalities were stressed, as well as the poverty of many millions of working people. The gender dimension was also mentioned, since women do have more labour market participation, but worse labour conditions. An interesting intervention concerned the production and distribution of knowledge, since poor countries are mainly exporters of knowledge with a massive brain drain.

Some representatives of member countries stressed the national responsibilities of countries, mainly concerning the social dimension of globalization. Civil society also has a responsibility to create an enabling environment for investments in their countries. ‘Inclusive development’, after all, is a matter of commitment.

As can be concluded from these brief minutes, little new information was being provided. Most national and civil society representatives were repeating the known ‘truths’ for or against trade-driven globalisation. Only the major trading partners and the NGOs with a proper research department were able to tilt the debate to an acceptable level.

UNCTAD remains an important partner for the developing countries. Its research potential is very important and helps countries and civil society to better understand the reality of trade and investment flows. This potential should be strengthened and cherished, since it is one of the rare sources of valuable information on development.

UNCTAD will hold its 12^th Conference in April 2008 in Accra, Ghana. Its theme will be ‘Addressing the opportunities and challenges of globalization for development’. Its subthemes are political coherence, regional approaches, the new geography of the world economy, mobilizing resources and harnessing knowledge, and the strengthening of UNCTAD.