"The predicted gains to developing countries from the Uruguay round have proven to be exaggerated...Income and welfare gaps between and within countries have widened further....the world economy is deeply divided and unstable.... Asymmetries and biases in the global system against the poor and underprivileged persist unchecked."
Trade and Development Report 1999, UNCTAD

 Seattle and Beyond

• The 48 least developed countries account for only 0.4% of world trade.
• The OECD group of industralised countries subsidised their own farming to the tune of $353 billion a year in 1998
• 97% of all patents worldwide are owned by TNCs in developed countries;

The World Trade Organization Ministerial meeting in Seattle failed to accomplish its objectives because of the absence of sufficient legitimacy both within and outside the WTO. In addition to major divisions and specific disagreements among its members, the deep secrecy surrounding WTO processes proved inimical to values held by a very broad spectrum of participants and observers alike. NGOs want to see the WTO process opened up to the active involvement of all the countries in a transparent and open way. The global governance framework should be democratic, transparent, accountable, equitable and gender sensitive. A review of WTO processes  should involve consideration of mechanisms such as Multi Stakeholder dialogues. NGOs would also like to see increased funding for capacity building for developing countries, to enable them to be an active and more equal partner in the negotiations written into and a prerequisite to any trade negotiation.  NGOs express concern that the three pillars of sustainable development were not adequately integrated and addressed within the WTO process. CTE should be reestablished as a sustainable development committee within WTO.

Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs)

NGOs call for there to be a clear understanding that Multilateral Environmental agreements (MEAs)for instance MEA social conventions such as those of the ILO and human rights convention shall take precedence and not be bound by WTO-related requirements.

The CSD should establish a working group to develop criteria for evaluating when MEAs qualified under Article 20 of the GATT as exceptions. Factors that could be considered are for instance number of member signatures and ratifications whether all relevant stake holders have been involved in setting the regional or international standards and whether the MEA makes appropriate provisions for developing countries to achieve compliance.

Trade and Environment Ministers should be asked to meet together to review the outcomes from the working group.

Intergovernmental Panel on Trade and Sustainable Development

An Intergovernmental Panel on Trade and Sustainable Development (or a sub-Commission of the CSD and UNCTAD) should be set up to:
 

• Explore, and make recommendations and to establish a formal process between CSD and WTO on, potential cross-sectoral mechanisms to reconcile trade and sustainable economic, environmental, and social development objectives;
• Explore and make recommendations of improving free trade which does not undermine food security but rather supports , rural communities, farmers, and peasants including women and indigenous Peoples in developing countries, developed countries, and countries in transition, thereby reducing the migration of people in vulnerable rural communities to urban areas;
• As part of a transition to a long-term sustainable economy, we advocate the development of policy instruments to secure commodity prices which reflect the true environmental and social cost of their production, and recommend the withdrawal of escalating tariffs on primary commodities exported from developing countries;
• Given that floating and fixed exchange rates undervalue labour goods and resources and contribute to economic injustice and the gross over consumption of the developed world, the panel of CSD should explore how basing the exchange rates on such things as a basket of comparable goods could lead to purchasing power parity.
• Develop policy instruments to ensure that world trade rules do not undermine, but reinforce, food security, especially in net food importing food deficit countries;
• review mechanisms for meeting the needs of developing countries for technical and financial assistance in the design, utilization and response to, trade measures and technical regulations; and make recommendations to increase the capacity of developing countries in trade  negotiations.
• Research, and make proposals on, the criteria under which trade measures may be taken, including development of the concept of 'green tariffication', whereby if tariffs are deployed to protect industries meeting higher environmental standards, the revenue generated could be repatriated to developing countries - possibly in the form of an environment fund administered by a multilateral body for investment in cleaner technologies. Cost internalization, both relating to the production and transportation process must be addressed in this regard.
• To explore the content and application of the precautionary principle in relation to trade agreements.
• To explore matters relating to processing and production methods such as access to information  by consumers, the ability of governments to develop and implement resource management, toxic reduction and other policies related to sustainable production and  consumption frameworks.
• To develop knowledge and information on price effect of the WTO TRIPS Agreement on the transfer and sharing of technology.

Strengthening the United Nations

Governments should pledge to create an effective new process/mechanism/strategy to strengthen links between the World Bank, IMF, WTO and the UN particularly in the area of sustainable development: The CSD should call for governments:

• To commit to expand efforts to eliminate negative effects of trade, including inequalities on developing countries and developed countries by reconciling WTO rule-making and global trade practices with the post-Rio agenda to include all the UN Conference agendas;
• To explore negotiation of a Food Security Convention that would encourage sustainable agriculture as part of a broader international agenda to advance food security;
• To re-commit to implement the Habitat II agenda which calls for governments to create "regulatory and legal frameworks ... to promote socially and environmentally responsible corporate investment and reinvestment in and partnership with local communities";
• To pledge to work for international codes of conduct for corporations

Developing countries should be assured of continued access to the expertise of UNCTAD in trade and investment issues. UNCTAD's role for the past 20 years in supporting the least developed countries on trade negotiations issues should not be relegated to the World Trade Organization in such a short period of time.