PRESS BRIEFING ON TENTH UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING ON TENTH UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

The Tenth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD X) would take frank and candid stock of development experiences, learn from the gaps and mistakes, and chart new policies and strategies, the Chief of the UNCTAD secretariat's New York office, Khalilur Rahman, said at a Headquarters press briefing.today. UNCTAD X will take place in Bangkok from 12 February and 19 February.

The Conference would be the first major United Nations conference this century, he said, and UNCTAD was acutely aware of the symbolism of that and of associated expectations. It would bring together governments, the United Nations and other intergovernmental organizations, parliamentarians, academics, representatives of non-governmental organizations and business people. He expected an orderly, inclusive debate, in a non-confrontational climate.

Given the type and level of participation expected, the Conference was increasingly looking like a global “town-hall” meeting, he continued. It should produce a cool-headed discussion of what globalization meant and how the various issues arising from it could be tackled creatively.

Governments and the UNCTAD secretariat had worked hard at pre-conference meetings to develop the negotiated text that such conferences were expected to produce, he said. While agreement had not yet been reached on a few sections - - the so-called 'square bracketed' sections -- not a lot of time at the Conference would be spent negotiating the text. That would allow maximum time for governments and others to listen to the views of development partners.

Asked how concerned he was about repeats of the demonstrations that took place at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle recently, he explained that the first pre-conference event in Bangkok was a non-governmental organizations caucus, to be followed by a meeting of lawmakers. The first formal event of UNCTAD would be an interaction between eminent economists. Governments were taking a back seat, and listening to the other actors right from the outset. The intention was to bring all voices into the discussion.

UNCTAD was popularly known as “the trade union of developing countries”, he said. Countries of the South, including the most disadvantaged countries, usually found it a very effective forum to articulate their views. He did not foresee that the voices of developing countries would not be heard. Quite the contrary, a large number of ministers from developing countries would be attending. A variety of stakeholders would participate, and all would have formal settings in which to air their views.

Even within a relatively prosperous country, it was extremely difficult to address well-entrenched interest groups unless there was an open dialogue, Mr. Rahman stated, in response to another question. Such an open dialogue was

UNCTAD Briefing - 2 - 4 February 2000

what UNCTAD member States and the UNCTAD secretariat were trying to foster. The Conference would also serve as a reminder that the powerful could not do much without the weak. As former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Ghandi, explained to the second UNCTAD Conference in 1968, paraphrasing the poet Tagore, to be secure, power had to be protected not just against power, but also against weakness. It was the weak that could cause the powerful to lose their balance. The weak were as great a danger for the strong “as quicksand for an elephant”.

Asked about UNCTAD's role, he said that its job was to articulate key economic difficulties facing developing countries in such areas as trade, finance, technology and investment. It pushed for more balanced trade negotiation agendas, and assisted developing countries in building their own agendas and pushing for their own interests in those negotiations. Developing countries had always given UNCTAD a resounding vote of confidence.

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