Is globalization about money or about development? This is the
main focus of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Participants are expected to find it ever harder to reach a consensus.
Financial interests rather than sustainable development should be at
the heart of globalization – this is in a nutshell the message of the
UNCTAD conference kicking off in Doha on Saturday.
As a warm-up for the Rio+20 UN summit, the agenda for the Doha
conference is already somewhat set: "Enhancing the enabling economic
environment at all levels in support of inclusive and sustainable
development" as well as "strengthening all forms of cooperation and
partnerships for trade and development." What's behind those themes is
the basic question whether the global economic system still works in
today's world – or whether it just adds to the already existing divide
between wealth and poverty.
This means that the UNCTAD conference will have the interests of the
developed world pinned against those of developing countries. Yet by the
time the Doha conference wraps up, all participants will have to come
up with a common final declaration.
Seeking consensus
Failing to find such a declaration would send a bad signal for Rio+20,
warns Gudrun Kopp of Germany's Development Ministry. "Should good
governance and human rights not make it into the final document, this
would be inacceptable," she said.
But those two demands that Kopp points out do not always find the
support of developing countries or emerging economies like China where
the priorities often are progress and fighting poverty – not human
rights or democracy. Yet on the other hand, it's often the
industrialized world that is defensive when it comes to regulating
markets or cutting the subsidies to their own agricultural sectors.
Forum for dialogue
Since 1964, UNCTAD has been a mediator between the interests of the
developing world and the industrialized countries. Back then the focus
was first and foremost to give the former colonies a forum for their
trade interests. In its reports and analysis, UNCTAD has been warning
for years about the dangers of an unregulated capital market – a view
which in the wake of the financial crisis is now also taking hold in the
industrialized world.
With only around 400 people working for it, UNCTAD managed to
correctly predict the economic crises in Mexico, Asia and Argentina. The
World Bank, meanwhile, failed to see those crises ahead of time,
despite the fact that it has 10,000 employees. The International
Monetary Fund has also missed the mark in the past.
Still, UNCTAD has much less political influence. "It is not a forum for
making decisions, but rather one for dialogue and seeking consensus,"
Kopp said.
Waning influence
Although the results of the conference will indeed be noted by other UN
organizations and are also part of the negotiations within the World
Trade Organization (WTO) – they do not in fact have a real impact. The
positions are too different. "The WTO seeks to liberalize global trade.
UNCTAD rather thinks that trade is no end in itself but a means for
development," says Tilman Altenburg of the German Development Institute.
The traditional dividing lines between the developing world and
industrialized countries are shifting though since several of the
emerging economies are now part of the G20 - the group of the 20 leading
economies. For China, Brazil and India it is more interesting to
negotiate directly with the finance ministers of the industrialized
countries," says Altenburg. "The interests of the emerging economies are
no longer identical with those of the developing world."
There, he adds, the Doha conference will give interesting clues as to
UNCTAD's future relevance. Some 30 former UNCTAD employees have already
released a declaration warning that should the developing world,
emerging economies and industrialized countries fail to find a
consensus, UNCTAD would be in danger of ending up merely an
administrative body. This, they warn, would mean that there would no
longer be a forum for analysis from the perspective of the developing
world.
source : dw.de
