Global Policy Forum

A new book launched at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York last week presents an independent reassessment of the current system of global trade and looks at ways that it can be improved to contribute more effectively to human development.

Entitled Making Global Trade Work for People, the study was prepared by an international team of experts, with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and UNDP, joined by the Ford Foundation, the Heinrich Boll Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund.

Although trade has enormous potential to contribute to human development, say the authors, the current trade regime has fallen far short of expectations and its inequities are at the core of controversies surrounding globalization. It examines these issues and presents perspectives from developing countries, civil society organizations from both North and South, and academics and experts that have not been widely heard.

The book addresses a range of critical questions, such as whether a developing country's autonomy can be preserved while respecting legitimate objectives of advanced industrialized countries to maintain high labour, social and economic standards at home.

It also examines in detail the workings of the trade system under the World Trade Organization, tracing its origins from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and analyzing how it can work better for developing countries and contribute to global efforts to reduce poverty.

UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, speaking at the launch, emphasized the critical importance of ensuring that the new round of trade negotiations directly tackles key issues such as OECD agricultural subsidies and provides much more substantial capacity building support to help poor countries participate more effectively in the international trading system.

"Perhaps the most important overall message is that the current trade regime needs to shift its focus from promoting liberalization and market access to providing developing countries with policy space," said Kamal Malhotra, the book's lead author and UNDP Senior Advisor on Inclusive Globalization.

This will give them the flexibility they need to make institutional and other innovations, he said, while still recognizing that trade liberalization and market access can make important contributions to human development in specific situations and certain sectors.

"Multilateral trade rules need to seek peaceful co-existence among national practices," said Mr. Malhotra. This implies a need to view rules that favour the weakest members as integral to the system, he said

Making Global Trade Work for People is published and distributed by Earthscan Publishers in London and will be available in retail bookstores and outlets worldwide in March.

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