[CTC] Mexico Says U.S. Stalling on Adding Nation to Pacific Trade Deal

[Arthur Stamoulis]

URGENT REQUEST FOR ENDORSEMENT – Letter on UNCTAD XIII 

 

Dear All,

 

There is a large fight brewing over global economic governance issues right
now, as the OECD countries are working to remove the mandate to work on
macroeconomic and finance issues from the only multilateral economic agency
that works from a development perspective, which is the United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Evidently the IMF, OECD, WTO,
and G20 are doing such a fine job and managing the global economy that
there’s no room for an alternative research and viewpoint. 

 

The UNCTAD XIII conference will take place starting this weekend, April
21-26 in Doha, Qatar. Governments have been negotiating the draft text for
the conference’s declaration, which will set the stage for UNCTAD’s work for
the next four years, on issues from trade and finance to investment and
debt; from agricultural commodities and employment to financial regulation
and climate change. And in every instance possible, the developed countries
are seeking to reduce the mandate and scope of UNCTAD, and to impose a
pro-“Washington Consensus” mandate - on the only multilateral economic
institution that works from a development perspective.

 

THUS, the civil society organizations which have been following this issue
closely are requesting the support of other national organizations to push
back against this outrageous effort, by sending a clear message to
governments around the world on the declaration. The International Trade
Union Confederation (ITUC) and Public Citizen, among other US groups, have
endorsed. 

 

PLEASE SEND YOUR ENDORSEMENT OF THE LETTER (below and attached) to
djames at cepr.net ASAP. We will be releasing it at the UNCTAD meeting on
SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 2012. I am including three articles about the issue for
your information. I know this isn’t strictly within CTC’s field, but I
thought many of you would want to support it. 

 

Thank you,

Deborah James

Our World Is Not for Sale network

 

Strengthen, Don’t Weaken, UNCTAD’s Role in Global Governance: Towards
Sustainable and Inclusive Development, Not More Crises 

 

Sunday, April 22, 2012

 

To: Governments and Negotiators at the UNCTAD XIII in Doha, Qatar

 

Since the onset of the global financial and economic crises, UNCTAD has
played an important role in identifying the key causes of the crises,
assisting developing countries in seeking solutions to the impacts of the
crises, and advocating for the reform of global economic and finance
policies and governance in order to prevent similar crises from recurring.
These are all key roles that no other multilateral economic institution has
fulfilled from a development perspective. In fact, UNCTAD is well known for
having predicted the crisis in advance, a fact that is to be commended,
particularly given its paucity of resources compared to institutions such as
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO),
and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which
failed to do so. This prescience builds on a long history of UNCTAD’s
contributions to development-oriented policies such as the Generalized
System of Preferences, 0.7 percent GNI aid targets, debt cancellation,
international commodity agreements, special and differential treatment at
the WTO, and policy space, among many others. 

 

Despite these important contributions, throughout the negotiations leading
up to UNCTAD XIII, the developed countries have tried to rescind the
important mandate of UNCTAD to work on issues of global macroeconomic and
finance policies, and particularly to participate in global governance on
these issues, which are so essential to global prosperity. In addition, the
EU and “JUSSCKANNZ” (Japan, the United States, Switzerland, Canada, South
Korea, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, and Lichtenstein) have sought impose
a mandate on UNCTAD to push developing countries to adopt investor
protection and trade policies in accordance with the corporate interests of
developed countries, rather than in the interests of the successful use of
trade and investment for the purposes of sustainable and inclusive growth
within developing countries themselves.

 

The outcomes of the UNCTAD XIII conference in Doha, Qatar, April 21-26,
2012, must contribute to the transformations of the global economy that are
necessary for true inclusive and sustainable development for all:

 

1.	It is essential that the 2012 UNCTAD Declaration affirms, rather
than retreats from, the progress made at the UNCTAD XII in Accra. This
includes an agreement on the need for sustainable as well as inclusive
growth, as well as the need for UNCTAD to work on the inter-related issues
of finance, technology, investment, and sustainable development, among other
key issues. 

 

2.	The collective policy analysis must recognize the root causes of the
global crisis, its impacts, and mandate a role for UNCTAD to continue its
excellent economic and finance research and critical analysis, in order to
truly assist developing countries in creating solutions to the crises –
rather than pushing them to implement more of the same deregulatory trade
and investment policies that led to the global crises in the first place. 

 

3.	Finally, the role of UNCTAD as an alternative voice to the
“Washington Consensus” paradigm – being the only multilateral economic
institution focused on development – must be strengthened vis-à-vis the WTO,
the IMF, the World Bank, the OECD, and the G20 in global economic governance
decision-making. 

 

In order the accomplish these transformations, we call on developed
countries to abandon the pressure on the G77 negotiators, and instead work
together with developing countries to ensure a forward-looking mandate for
UNCTAD which must, among other issues:

 

*	Specifically recognize the origins, spread, and impacts of the
global crises, and mandate a role for UNCTAD which includes assisting
developing countries as well as advocacy in the global governance arena in
favor of sustainable and inclusive growth;
*	Affirm the key role of UNCTAD’s research and analysis on
macroeconomic and financial issues, including exchange rates and global
imbalances, as well as countercyclical fiscal policies that have helped
stabilize economies during the global crisis.
*	Include analysis that recognizes both the costs as well as
opportunities of trade, and directs UNCTAD to assist developing countries in
utilizing trade for their development, rather than just advising them to
join the WTO and other “free” trade agreements.
*	Mandate UNCTAD to determine the contours of a global trade framework
that is truly development-oriented, and thus to identify the changes to the
existing WTO and ongoing negotiations that are necessary to ensure that
governments have the policy space to use trade for sustainable and inclusive
development, and to regulate in the public interest. 
*	Affirm the importance of adequate regulation and supervision of
financial markets, particularly with regard to crisis prevention and
resolution, and mandate UNCTAD to play an active role in ensuring strong
national and global financial regulatory rules.
*	Acknowledge the problems of investor protection provisions in trade
and investment agreements and mandate a role for UNCTAD in helping
developing countries design investment policies that will benefit their
sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as advocating for
development-oriented best practices in investment policies globally. 
*	Recognize the major impacts of the crisis on employment, and mandate
UNCTAD to work on the national level with developing countries in favor of
job creation, and on the international level in favor of the Decent Work
Agenda in concert with the ILO.
*	Reassert the need to find solutions to the problem of volatility in
the global commodities markets and the need for fair trade in global
agricultural trade towards Food Security and Food Sovereignty, and mandate a
research and advocacy role for UNCTAD on these issues, together with the FAO
and particularly the Committee on Food Security. 
*	Affirm developed countries’ commitments in ODA and Aid for Trade, as
well as UNCTAD’s key role in identifying the need for and developing
mechanisms towards a sustainable sovereign debt work-out mechanism, bringing
together diverse stake holders to create Responsible Lending and Borrowing
principles and continued efforts on debt cancellation.
*	Set forth clear analysis of the impact of climate change on
sustainable and inclusive development, and mandate UNCTAD to contribute to
the global effort to realize the objectives of sustainable and inclusive
development vis-à-vis climate change. 

 

These are but a few of the key issues that should form the foundation of the
official declaration that is to guide UNCTAD’s role over the next four
years. More comprehensive analysis on each of these issues is detailed in
the official Civil Society Statement of the UNCTAD XIII.

 

In light of the rhetoric surrounding the commitment to a more open,
democratic, and participatory system of global governance that have become
commonplace in recent years, we find the return to the semi-colonial
approach of the developed countries in the UNCTAD negotiations outrageous.
We commend the former leadership and staff of UNCTAD who spoke up against
this unacceptable situation last week, as well as the G77 for their
statement that called the EU and JUSSCKANNZ to account for their
intransigent positions.   

 

As representatives of developed and developing countries of myriad stages of
development, we know that our own prosperity is deeply entwined to the
sustainable development of all, and thus we call on all governments of the
North and South to join together, to affirm a strong role for UNCTAD in
working towards sustainable and inclusive development for all.

 

Signed, 

 

 

International Organizations

1.	Africa Trade Network (ATN)
2.	Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)
3.	Asia Europe People's Forum (AEPF)
4.	Asia Indigenous Women's Network (AIWN)
5.	Convergencia de Movimientos de los Pueblos de las Américas (COMPA)
6.	Eastern and Southern Africa Small Scale Farmers Forum (ESAFF)  
7.	European Attac Network
8.	European Coordination Via Campesina
9.	European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad)
10.	Federación Latinoamericana de Trabajadores de las Industrias
(FLATIC)
11.	Friends of the Earth International (FOEI)
12.	Hemispheric Social Alliance/Alianza Social Continental (HSA/ASC)
13.	International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
14.	Jubilee South - Asia/Pacific Movement on Debt and Development
15.	Latin American Association of Micro, Small, and Medium Businesses
(Asociación Latinoamericana de Micro, Pequeños y Medianos Empresarios,
ALAMPYME)
16.	Mesa de Coordinación Latinoamericana de Comercio Justo 
17.	Movimiento Mesoamericano contra el Modelo Extractivo Minero (M4)
18.	Nord-Sud XXI
19.	Pacific Network on Globalization (PANG)
20.	Red de Acción en Plaguicidas y sus Alternativas de América Latina
(RAPAL)
21.	Southern and Eastern African Trade Information and Negotiations
Institute (SEATINI)
22.	Tax Justice Network 
23.	Tebtebba (Indigenous Peoples' International Centre for Policy
Research and Education)
24.	Third World Network (TWN)
25.	Third World Network - Africa

 

National Organizations

26.      11.11.11, Belgium

27.      ACORD

28.      Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos (AMAP),
Mexico

29.      Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Philippines

30.      Alliance Sud, Switzerland

31.      Alternative Information & Development Centre (AIDC), South Africa 

32.      Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union (APVVU), India 

33.      Attac Austria

34.      Attac Germany

35.      Attac Japan

36.     Banana Link, UK

37.     Bharatiya Krishak Samaj (BKS), India

38.	Bia´lii, Asesoría e Investigación, A.C, Mexico

39.      Campaign for a Life of Dignity for ALL (KAMP), Philippines  

40.      Campaign for the Welfare State, Norway

41.     Caribbean Policy Development Centre, Barbados

42.     Center of Concern, US

43.      Centro de Formación e Investigación. Municipal, A.C. (CEFIMAC),
Mexico

44.      CNCD-11.11.11, Belgium

45.      Comhlámh, Ireland 

46.      Confederation of Labor and Allied Social Services, Philippines

47.      Consumers Association of Penang, Malaysia

48.      Coordination Climate Justice Sociale, Switzerland

49.      Council of Canadians

50.      ECA Watch Austria 

51.      Ecologistas en Acción, Spain

52.     EcoNexus, UK

53.     Economic Justice Network (EJN) of the Fellowship of Christian
Councils in Southern Africa (FOCCISA)

54.     Ecuador Decide 

55.      Enda Tiers Monde, Senegal

56.      Fair, Italy

57.      Faith Action Network of Washington, US

58.      Fastenopfer Switzerland 

59.      Foreign Policy in Focus, US

60.     Foro Ciudadano de Participación por la Justicia y los Derechos
Humanos (FOCO), Argentina 

61.     Foro Latinoamericano del Trabajo, Innovación e Integración (FLATI),
Argentina

62.     Forum Social Lémanique (FSL), Switzerland

63.     Friends of the Earth, England Wales and Northern Ireland (FoE EWNI)

64.     Fundación Promoción Humana, Argentina

65.      Ghana Trades Union Congress 

66.      GLOBAL 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria 

67.      Hecho en Bs As – empresa social, Argentina

68.      Ibon International, Philippines 

69.      Indonesia for Global Justice

70.      Information Group on Latin America (IGLA), Austria

71.      Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, US

72.      Institute for Economic Research on Innovation, South Africa

73.      International Forum on Globalization, US

74.      International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID)

75.      Jubilee Debt Campaign, UK

76.      Jubilee Germany

77.      Jubilee Justice Task Force of the United Church of Christ, US

78.      Jubilee USA Network

79.      Labour, Health and Human Rights Development Centre, Nigeria

80.      Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, US

81.      Missionary Oblates United Sates Province, US

82.      Mtandao wa Vikundi vya Wakulima Tanzania (National Network of
Farmers Groups in Tanzania, MVIWATA)

83.      National Association of Nigerian Traders (NANTS)

84.      National Labour and Economic Development Institute, South Africa 

85.      National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE), Canada

86.	Otros Mundos AC/Amigos de la Tierra, Mexico
87.	Polaris Institute, Canada
88.	Public Citizen, US

89.      Rede Brasileira Pela Integração dos Povos (Brazilian Network for
Peoples’ Integration, REBRIP), Brazil 

90.      Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC), Mexico

91.      Red Peruana de Comercio Justo y Consumo Ético, Peru

92.      Sahabat Alam Malaysia

93.      Sierra Club, US

94.      Sisters of the Holy Cross Congregation Justice Committee, US

95.      SWISSAID, Swiss Foundation for Development Cooperation, Switzerland

96.      Tax Research UK

97.      The Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in The Gambia
(TANGO)

98.      The Berne Declaration, Switzerland

99.      The Oakland Institute, US

100.   TPPWatch, New Zealand

101.   Trades Union Congress, UK

102. Transnational Institute, Netherlands

103. VOICE, Bangladesh

104.   Worldview-The Gambia

105.   X minus Y Solidarity Fund, the Netherlands

106.   Youths Action, UK

 

  _____  

 

 <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ND17Dj06.html>
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/ND17Dj06.html

Apr 17, 2012

 

The G-77 awakes
By Vijay Prashad 

The crisis continues at the preparatory conference for the 13th meeting of
the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) to be held
from April 21-26 in Doha, Qatar. 

It began when the North, led by the US delegation and the Swiss ambassador,
refused to allow the United Nations agency any latitude for a discussion on
the toxicity of finance and its reform. At the 4th BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China and South Africa) summit in New Delhi last month, the powerful
"locomotives of the South" promised to back the UNCTAD summit, and
implicitly offered support for UNCTAD's critical position on finance-driven
globalization. 

A broadside and press conference from 49 former staff members of UNCTAD,
including its former secretary general, put on record their frustrations
with the North for its obstinacy. Toward the end of last week, it appeared
as if these criticisms were to be brushed off as the irritations of
mosquitoes. And then the slumbering "G-77 + China" awoke. 

At the founding conference of the UNCTAD in 1964, the bloc of developing
nations issued a Declaration of the 77 (their number at the time; there are
now 132). The main thrust of the declaration was a pledge from the 77
countries to work together for a new international division of labor.
Political colonialism had substantially been invalidated, but the
inheritances of colonialism in the economic and social domain lingered -
one-crop economies and economies premised on the comparative advantage of
low wage costs doomed these countries to a second-class position. 

In October 1967, the G-77 emerged as a formal institution, and its Charter
of Algiers established its basic outlook: to challenge the import barriers
in the North and to uproot the unfavorable terms of trade that privileged
the products of the North against those of the South. The high point of the
G-77 came in 1973, when the UN General Assembly voted in a resolution for a
New International Economic Order (NIEO). 

Faced with the NIEO, the advanced industrial countries created the Group of
Seven (1974) and a political process to undermine the G-77 and the NIEO. The
debt crisis of the 1980s weakened the South, which was now unable to push
its political agenda. The G-77 withered (it was here that China joined, so
that the group is now formally G-77 + China). By the 1990s, as the UNCTAD
secretary general of the time, Rubens Ricupero, remembers it, the North
pushed for the creation of the World Trade Organization (1994) with the hope
that this would make UNCTAD irrelevant. 

"When I arrived at UNCTAD in 1995," Ricupero told IPS, "there was already a
conspiracy afoot by the 'usual suspects,' the rich countries - not to change
the mandate as they want to now, but to simply suppress the organization
that they have never accepted since its inception." The G-77's weakness
mirrored that of UNCTAD. 

The kerfuffle caused by the former UNCTAD staffers last week was heightened
by a statement circulated around the UNCTAD preparatory conference called
"Friend of Development," authored by 10 influential states from the South.
They wanted UNCTAD to directly deal with questions of financial reform. 

The Europeans and the US seemed undaunted by these challenges. They went
into a final meeting with the G-77. The Swiss Ambassador Luzius Wasescha had
earlier pointed out that his theory for the current UNCTAD was to stonewall
the South and "create chaos" in the mechanism to draft a consensus document.
This sentiment was unchanged in the final meeting. 

A member of the G-77 delegation told me that the Thai ambassador who heads
G-77, Pisnau Chanvitan, was distressed by the attitude of the North. Either
the G-77 would have to join the public declaration inaugurated by the
ex-UNCTAD staffers or it would lose its dignity. On April 13, the G-77
released a forthright and unexpected statement that mirrored the
ex-staffers' cry from the heart. 

The April 13 statement from the G-77 marks a major break from statements
released over the past several decades. The first paragraph uses the word
"candid" twice and "candor" once, emphasizing the need for the kind of plain
speaking that has eluded the G-77 since 1975. The statement makes two broad
points, one about the process and the other about the substantive issues at
hand. 

Process: Chanvitan's statement complains that the G-77 has tried its best to
be flexible with the negotiation, but "perhaps our constructiveness was
viewed as weakness, and our accommodation viewed as capitulation". The North
has "regressed to behavior perhaps more appropriate to the founding days of
UNCTAD, when Countries of the North felt they could dictate and marginalize
developing countries from informed decision-making." 

One Northern ambassador's role was singled out for being "shameful and
reminiscent of the darkest days of the North-South divide". 

Remarkably, Chanvitan noted that the preparatory conference has seen
"behavior that seems to indicate a desire for the dawn of a new
neo-colonialism". Such language has not been heard from the G-77 in decades.
"Perhaps, in our desire for consensus," Chanvitan notes, "we have
accommodated too much and this good faith was misunderstood, and abused.
Perhaps this should end now." 

Issues: The bulk of the statement from Chanvitan is about the problems of
process. The North is not blocking UNCTAD XIII without reason. The main
issue before UNCTAD and the other meetings of this summer (Rio +20 and the
G-20) is the question of financial reform and finance-led globalization.
Chanvitan hopes that UNCTAD XIII can contribute to a new beginning. The
basis of the new start will be "development-centered globalization" which
"presents an opportunity to articulate a vision of development based on
equality, based on a differentiated approach to development, and based on
equal respect for all." 

Despite its bluster, the G-77 seems prepared to accommodate the North.
Chanvitan writes that the G-77 could adopt "the condensed text" that largely
reflects the wishes of the North, with some input from the South. Over this
weekend, the North has gone into a huddle. It is likely that they will
return on Monday prepared to fight tooth and nail for the final outcome to
reflect their vision. 

If this is the case, one would have to see whether the G-77 has the
wherewithal to stand firm on this newly articulated foundation. If the G-77
folds, this narrow opening at the UNCTAD XIII will close and we shall be
back, as Chanvitan put it, "to the darkest days of the North-South divide". 

Vijay Prashad is Professor and Director of International Studies at Trinity
College, Hartford, United States. This spring he will publish two books:
Arab Spring, Libyan Winter (AK Press) and Uncle Swami: South Asians in
America Today (New Press). He is the author of Darker Nations: A People's
History of the Third World (New Press), which won the 2009 Muzaffar Ahmed
Book Prize. 

(Copyright 2012 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

  _____  

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/wto.info/2012/twninfo120412.htm

 

United Nations: Battle to save UNCTAD's mandate

 

Geneva, 16 Apr (Martin Khor*) -- On the eve of its thirteenth session, the

Ministerial conference known as UNCTAD XIII, a major battle is under way at

UNCTAD to preserve its mandate to work on key areas, especially

macro-economic and finance issues.

 

A serious impasse emerged last week in the preparatory committee of UNCTAD

XIII, which is tasked with preparing the draft outcome document that
Ministers are

scheduled to adopt at the end of UNCTAD XIII.

 

While the previous two or three conferences were rather tame affairs, it
looks like

UNCTAD XIII (whose general theme is development-centred globalization) will

be fiery, with the organisation's future scope of work and influence at
stake.

 

UNCTAD was set up in 1964 to support developing countries to strengthen
their

weak position in international economic structures, and to design national

development strategies.

 

It became a kind of secretariat on behalf of developing countries, providing
a small 

pro-development balance to the huge organisations dominated by the developed

countries, such as the OECD, the IMF and World Bank.

 

In the past two decades, however, the developed countries have tried to curb
the

pro-South orientation of the UNCTAD secretariat and its many reports. The

inter-governmental discussions became less significant, while UNCTAD's

pro-development mission was increasingly challenged by the developed
countries.

 

This unhealthy trend seemed to have subsided in the past decade, but in the
past

two months, the meetings in Geneva to prepare for UNCTAD XIII, some

developed countries have reportedly attempted to dilute the areas of future
work of

UNCTAD, to the frustration of the G77 and China.

 

Last week's meetings at the preparatory committee ended in a near crisis,
with the

countries unable to agree on how to proceed with some key issues and with a
draft

of the outcome document.

 

At the committee's meeting on 13 April, a major dispute arose over whether
the

Doha outcome should "reaffirm" the mandate given to UNCTAD at the previous

session (UNCTAD XII held in Accra in 2008, which adopted the Accra Accord).

 

The G77 and China proposed reaffirming the Accra Accord, and normally this

would have been accepted as a matter of routine.

 

However, a group of developed countries opposed the term "reaffirm".
Instead,

they wanted language to "build on" the Accra accord.

 

This caused frustration to the members of the G77 and China, which saw the
move

as an attempt to take away some of the issues that UNCTAD is working on.

Refusal to reaffirm the Accra accord seemed to be another measure to chip
away at

the influence of UNCTAD and its support for development.

 

Speaking on behalf of the G77 and China, Ambassador Pisanu Chanvitan of

Thailand regretted that the accommodative stance of the group had been
viewed as

weakness or capitulation. (See separate story on G77 and China statement.)

 

The group has hoped that the global economic and financial crisis marks once
and

for all the end of the bad old days, and perhaps the dawn of an
international regime

of global economic governance based on the highest principles and ideals of
the

United Nations, including sovereignty, equality, and mutual respect.

 

"Instead, we see behaviour that seems to indicate a desire for the dawn of a
new

neocolonialism. We cannot, we will not, accept this."

 

The G77 and China believed that UNCTAD XIII can contribute to a new

beginning, and that the theme of development-centred globalization could

articulate a vision of development based on equality and equal respect for
all.

 

"Unfortunately, the developing countries feel increasingly marginalised by
our

partners especially when they seem to deny us our own priorities."

 

The Thai Ambassador stressed that the Accra Accord must be reaffirmed. And

while the G77 and China had already made "incredible compromises", it now

proposed that at the minimum the Doha conference could adopt the compromise

text that the President of the Trade and Development Board (Ambassador
Mothae

Maruping of Lesotho) had issued in the first week of April.

 

This was a 22-page President's text that had drawn from a thick compilation

document containing proposed language from all members.

 

The G77 and China said its development partners (referring to developed

countries) may mistakenly think that the question is whether there will be
an

outcome document, and added that: "Let us assure our partners that there
will be

an outcome document", but the question is whether there will be a positive
spirit

that leads to a consensus document.

 

In response, a group of developed countries regretted that they were being
painted

as being on the "bad side" and asked that their proposals be not "engineered
always

as a weapon in a North-South conflict."

 

The impasse, so close to the start of UNCTAD XIII, has given rise to
discussions

on whether the Doha conference will result in a consensus-based outcome, or

whether the developing countries would resort to proposing a vote on a
document

it puts forward. A vote on a G77 and China document is considered a last
resort,

since the normal procedure is to adopt a consensus document.

 

It would appear that whether the Doha outcome will reaffirm the Accra Accord
has

become the most important political issue at this point of the negotiations.
It is

understood that there is widespread agreement that the outcome document will
be

based on negotiations on the President's text.

 

The G77 and China are however adamant that this text, which they consider

already too much watered down from the group's own proposed text, should not
be

diluted further.

 

The preparatory committee will resume its negotiations on 16 April
afternoon.

 

The battle in the UNCTAD XIII preparatory process is being monitored with a

sense of serious concern.

 

An influential group of 50 former senior UNCTAD staff issued a joint
statement

criticizing efforts by major developed countries to reduce UNCTAD's mandate
and

deny it the right to continue to analyse global macroeconomic issues from a

development perspective.

 

The signatories included former UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero,

two former deputy Secretaries-General, Carlos Fortin and Jan Pronk, and
several

Directors. (See SUNS #7349 dated 13 April 2012.)

 

(* Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre.)

+

 

  _____  

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/apr/16/ric
h-countries-want-to-muzzle-unctad/print

 <http://www.guardiannews.com/> Description: Description: The Guardian home

 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters> Description:
Description: Poverty Matters blog

Why would policymakers want to gag a past master of economic prophecy?

Unctad was right about Mexico's meltdown and the dangers of derivatives, yet
rich countries apparently want to muzzle it

 

In February, the UN's counterweight to the International Monetary Fund (IMF
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/imf> ) and the World Bank
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/worldbank>  fired off a withering
critique
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/feb/07/un-urges-overhaul-
global-financial-system?INTCMP=SRCH>  of the global financial system,
calling for fundamental reform as part of a new deal that can "lift all
boats" in rich and poor countries alike.

The report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad),
entitled Development-led globalisation
<http://www.unctad.org/meetings/en/SessionalDocuments/tdxiii_report_en.pdf>
, had no qualms about taking potshots at the IMF and the World Bank. It said
the first priority is "taming finance", arguing that leaving markets to
regulate themselves is both ineffectual and costly.

"Neither the IMF nor the World Bank, having abandoned their original raison
d'être to the siren calls of unregulated financial markets, have been able
to forge a vision of a post-crisis economy consistent with changed economic
and political realities," said the report, which set out the theme for this
week's Unctad XIII conference in Doha, Qatar, the first major UN ministerial
conference on trade and development since the fallout from the economic
crisis became clear.

But Unctad's supporters fear the organisation will be muzzled if rich
countries have their way. Last week, former Unctad staff accused rich
countries of wanting to remove the organisation's mandate to analyse global
finance – effectively removing a dissenting voice in the debate on economic
policy.

A statement released by former staff members, including Rubens Ricupero, a
former Unctad secretary-general, says developed countries have been trying
to limit the organisation's remit to trade, governance and democracy,
leaving analysis of global finance to the IMF and the World Bank.

"So the developed countries in Geneva have seized the occasion to stifle
Unctad's capacity to think outside the box," said the letter. "This is
neither a cost-saving measure nor an attempt to 'eliminate duplication' as
some would claim. The budget for Unctad's research work is peanuts and
disparate views on economic policy are needed today more than ever as the
world clamours for new economic thinking as a sustainable way out of the
current crisis. No, it is rather – if you cannot kill the message, at least
kill the messenger."

The letter has been picked up by several development bloggers such as Duncan
Green, head of research at Oxfam, who expressed his bafflement at the
apparent attempt to limit debate. Tax Justice Network
<http://taxjustice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/unctads-future-threatened-for.html
>  has also voiced its concern, while Robert Wade, professor of political
economy and development at the London School of Economics, flagged up the
issue on the Guardian's economics blog
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics-blog/2012/apr/03/west-strikes-
back-new-world-order-unctad?INTCMP=SRCH> .

According to John Burley – one of the signatories to the statement now doing
the rounds in the blogosphere – the US, the EU, Switzerland and Japan are
leading the charge to clip Unctad's wings in the preparatory meetings before
this week's conference in Doha.

"Unctad would continue to produce its trade and development reports but it
would not be allowed to analyse and develop critiques of the global
financial system," he said.

That would be a shame. When the Washington consensus
<http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/issues/washington.html>  held sway,
Unctad railed against the perils of premature liberalisation of trade and
capital flows. But like the fabled prophet Cassandra
<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/19/opinion/19mon4.html> , it was ignored,
its warnings dismissed as puerile and irrelevant. Now the organisation – an
organ of the UN general assembly created in 1964 to promote international
trade – can justifiably say: "We told you so."

As Supachai Panitchpakdi, Unctad's secretary-general, noted in the report,
the organisation: warned in 1993 of an emerging financial crisis in Mexico;
flagged the systemic risk from growing derivatives markets; and, in 1997,
cautioned against rapid financial liberalisation in east Asia. Perhaps if
policymakers had heeded Unctad's warnings, we would not be where we are now.

The Department for International Development (DfID) gave an ambiguous
response when asked about this kerfuffle.

"We are not seeking to narrow its mandate
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/15/in-praise-of-unctad> ,"
said a DfID official. "We want it to focus on what it does best, its work on
trade and development, and to produce objective high quality research and
formulate clear policy advice."

 

*	© 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies.
All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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