| |
Contributions from
the Column
Facts and trends
Reconstruction in Iraq: windfalls from war
Trade alone does not deliver development
Concern over independence of EU humanitarian aid
Debt relief for Iraq?
UN adopts convention to fight corruption
Security situation in Afghanistan fragile
German-Indonesian cooperation
Bribery in Nigeria’s oil business
Interview with Hans-Joachim Preuss: “The Kunduz operation will not bring more security”
12/2003
|
|
[ Ricupero and Wieczorek-Zeul on failure of Cancún ]
Trade alone does not deliver development
Five weeks after the World Trade Organisation ministerial conference in Cancún, the Secretary-General of the UN trade and development organisation UNCTAD, Rubens Ricupero, sought in Berlin at the end of October to qualify its failure. In a discussion hosted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (German Council on Foreign Relations) and the Bundesverband des Deutschen Gross- und Aussenhandels (Federal Association of the German Wholesale and Foreign Trade), Ricupero pointed out that some earlier conferences on world trade, latterly that in Seattle at the end of 1999, had also failed. He said it had been a mistake in Doha to proclaim a ‘Development Round’ and thereby arouse expectations which could not be fulfilled. Whoever was engaged in trade, Ricupero added, took a hard-nosed business attitude and did not think first about the development of their business partner. The WTO also certainly did not pursue developmental goals. In Cancún, the G21 group led by Brazil, China and India had presented the USA and the European Union with a concrete and absolutely seriously-minded proposal. However, the rich countries had wrongly judged it to be a rhetorical and tactical gesture – with the now well-known consequences.
At the WTO headquarters in Geneva, no-one now wanted to take the initiative, Ricupero said. An eloquent silence reigned there. But, he added, he hoped that the negotiations soon would be resumed and that agreement on the most important issues could be concluded by 2005. At the same time, UNCTAD aimed to encourage the developing countries to take an active yet realistic attitude. Trade was not an absolute value; only those countries which were capable of exporting and competitive – such as China, South Korea and Thailand – benefited from it. To this end, production must be diversified and the technologies employed modernised. Moreover, Ricupero said, more trade did not necessarily mean less poverty. In Mexico, exports had tripled, but poverty had increased at the same time. There was often a big divide between the needs of the people and the export business.
In contrast to Ricupero, German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said she was sticking by the term ‘Development Round’. Nevertheless, she emphasised that every trade policy measure must be examined to see if it suited the Millennium Goal of halving world poverty by 2015. There was a lack of good governance and a coherent policy in international organisations such as the WTO. As in Cancún, the Minister criticised above all the “perverse conditions” for cotton on the world market. She said 10 million producers in the developing countries were prevented from benefiting from globalisation and escaping poverty because 25,000 cotton farmers in Texas and other southern US states pocketed billions in subsidies.
Johannes Wendt
|
