7:41 AM Oct 25, 1995
NAM HEADS BACK UNCTAD'S CRUCIAL ROLE
Geneva Oct 25 (Chakravarthi Raghavan) -- Development should be brought back to the centre stage of international deliberations and the UN Conference on Trade and Development should play a crucial role in this, the Heads of States/Governments of the Non-Aligned countries have declared at their 11th summit last week in Cartagena. The NAM heads, in their declaration, underscored UNCTAD's central role as the primary economic organization of the United Nations and as a universal forum for intergovernmental deliberations and negotiations, policy and consensus building, monitoring, implementation and follow-up and technical cooperation in order to accelerate growth and development. Both in various parts of their general economic declaration, and a separate Declaration on UNCTAD, the NAM heads reaffirmed UNCTAD's role UNCTAD as a forum for building consensus on new and emerging issues and preparing groundwork for negotiations on further trade agreements, identified the major tasks ahead for UNCTAD, and stressed the critical importance of enabling UNCTAD to discharge its mandate fully and making it a more effective instrument for promoting development, particularly that of developing countries and perform its role as the essential focal point of the UN system for promoting trade and development of developing countries. UNCTAD, the NAM heads said, is the only forum within the United Nations, where development issues are treated in an integrated manner and where inter-linkages of issues and sectors and of countries and regions are addressed. "Therefore," the declaration said, "the Heads of State or Government reaffirmed the strong commitment of the Non-Aligned Movement to strengthen UNCTAD, including its actions for the provision of adequate resources by developed countries and expressed their firm determination to oppose any attempt to weaken or undermine the contributions of UNCTAD to the development process of the developing countries." The recent institutional changes, including the creation of the WTO, the NAM heads said, had reinforced the need for UNCTAD as a policy-oriented forum with a strong development perspective. The output of UNCTAD's intergovernmental deliberations, they added, should be more policy- and action-oriented, and there should be more participation by developing countries in UNCTAD's policy-making. Development policy-making, the NAM heads further added, should not be monopolized by a small directorate of countries and stressed that UNCTAD, as a universal forum, can help correct such imbalances by offering a wider range of policy choices to the developing countries and thereby further the development dialogue. In the formulation of new policies and directions, a balanced approach in policy analysis is vital to take into account the limited capability of developing countries to adapt to the new multilateral responsibilities as well as constraints they face. UNCTAD, the NAM heads added, offered an appropriate forum for building consensus on new and emerging issues and preparing the groundwork for negotiations of further trade agreements in the appropriate fora. They also reaffirmed support for the mandate of UNCTAD for integrated treatment of development and inter-related issues including trade, commodities, finance, investment, external debt, services, technology and environment. Looking ahead, the NAM heads urged UNCTAD in the context of the preparations for UNCTAD-IX next April in South Africa: * to give increased focus to priority issues for development and identify ways of maximizing the development impact of globalization and liberalization while minimising the dangers of instability and marginalisation; * study trends and issues in the world economy, particularly those that have an impact on developing countries and proposing policies and measures, both international and national, to address projected problems; and * strengthen its think-tank role for developing countries in the context of changing world economic environment and identify, examine and present alternative paths to development. In the development context, the NAM heads also tasked UNCTAD to * undertake conceptual work through objective analysis and forecasts, audit of ideas and concepts with a view to identifying their implications for developing countries and suggesting corrective measures, * revive and strengthen UNCTAD's role in the field of trade and development and related issues such as investment rules, competition policy, financial flows, environment, promotion of services sector in developing countries, science and technology, transfer of technology and economic cooperation and integration, * assess impact of implementation of the Uruguay Round agreements, identifying market access opportunities and suggest measures to mitigate possible negative effects, * reinvigorate its role in the area of Generalized System of Preferences and trade facilitation, and * support developing countries in formulating policies and strategies in specific areas including infrastructure development and development of small and medium enterprises The NAM heads also called for effective coordination of the positions of NAM to renew and enhance the GSP role, and opposition to restrictions of GSP as tools of coercion reflecting protectionist trends in developed countries, for improvement in GSP.