UNCTAD Brief UNCTAD-UNDP Global Programme on Globalization, Liberalization and Sustainable Human Development United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Development Programme
Rationale Economies are rapidly liberalizing as they seek to become better integrated into the emerging global economy, leading to an increased mobility of trade and capital resources. This has been driven by technological innovation and expectations of economic growth based on the framework of the WTO and the growing tendency for TNCs to fragment their productive processes globally in certain strategic sectors. However, while certain countries and social groups have reaped the benefits of this process, the burdens have fallen disproportionately on the poor and some lowincome countries have found themselves even further marginalized. In order to address these challenges and to meet the aspirations of countries for a more balanced and sustainable human development that would enable them to meet their Millennium Development Goals within the global economy, UNCTAD and UNDP established the Global Programme in 1998. It draws on their respective strengths of trade and sustainable human development, as well as lessons learnt on issues related to the management of globalization. The First Phase: 1998-2001 In addressing these concerns, the Programme's first phase concentrated on the linkages between liberalization, consistent economic growth and sustainable human development. It also addressed the linkages between the macro- and microeconomic levels and global and country levels, generating an approach to globalization that is broader than the traditional analysis of trade and investment. This framework was used in country assessments that examined the linkages between globalization and human development, followed by national seminars comprising all sections of society, and subsequent policy dialogues with government. The Second Phase: 2002-ongoing The Changing Policy Environment The Doha conference for a new round of negotiations, as well as the Monterrey conference and the World Summit on Sustainable Development had as a common theme, the importance of making globalization work for the world's poor. These meetings emphasised the importance of governance and public-private partnerships as complements to harnessing trade and investment for development. Based on this new policy environment, the Programme will focus on developing strategic approaches for negotiations in the ongoing Round, connecting domestic policy spaces to international and regional developments, promoting institutional innovation, facilitating dialogue between Government, business and civil society and providing advice on an appropriate mix of policies to enhance competitiveness, at the national level, while promoting social efficiency. This will enable developing countries to reap the benefits of global integration while managing their own integration process.
Implications for the Programme at the Country Level As the Programme is demand-driven and adaptable, the following activities will be tailored to the needs of each country: Country Assessments will move from a broad national focus to an intersectoral one among strategic areas of an economy such as energy, water and human capital development in a knowledge economy. It will examine these through two specific interfaces. The first is between competitiveness and social efficiency, and the second is between the rule-making processes at the multilateral, regional and bilateral levels and a country's scope and flexibility for devising its own active policies to promote sustainable human development. The outcome of these assessments will lead to policy dialogues with the authorities, the private sector and civil society in order to design a policy set that can be implemented by Government. The aim is for a transparent and participatory process in which the country decides on the strategy to be taken. At the same time, the Programme will give more importance to firm behaviour as a means to enhancing employment and growth, and will adopt a cluster and productive chains approach to promoting competitiveness. In doing so, the inter-relationships between the macro and micro/enterprise levels will be emphasised in its analytical framework. This will comprise policy dialogues on creating an infrastructure for SMEs and promoting forward and backward linkages between TNCs and SMEs, thereby enhancing social efficiency too. Using the springboard of the Global Compact, the Programme will foster the creation of public-private partnerships (PPPs) around specific areas. The ability of central government to bring about positive changes is heavily reliant on cooperation at the regional and sub-national level with the private sector. This encourages corporate responsibility on the part of TNCs and their subsidiaries, and helps governments to achieve their policy goals. In tandem with these, the Programme will emphasise the social dimension of globalization with a focus on human rights, labour relations, cultural diversity, poverty and marginalization, in the context of global integration.
Examples of Country Activities Focus on Vietnam Strategic sectors Studies and seminar series on the implications of WTO accession on trade and investment, energy and labour migration. The expected outcome will be a series of policy recommendations for enhancing the effect of global integration and WTO membership on these sectors. SME promotion and the knowledge economy Pilot project in six provinces to use information and communications technologies to bring vital market, production and human capital information to rural and mountainous areas. This will enable farmers, cottage industries and small manufacturers to make informed decisions on what they produce, how they produce it and where they sell it. It will also allow rural communities to access training material to enhance their skills and for families to acquire the knowledge to undertake basic preventive healthcare. Social dimension Study on the social aspect of the ex-ante and ex-post effects of liberalization on the coffee and footwear sectors. Focus on Senegal SME promotion and human capital development Project to strengthen creative industries by working with artists, entrepreneurs, trainers, industry specialists and lawyers. This scheme will develop an integrated policy framework for trade expansion, employment generation, poverty reduction and improvement of copyright regimes. Social Dimension Strengthening social efficiency in Senegal. This includes studies and policy recommendations on professional training in the export sector, the tourism industry, agriculture, poverty reduction among women and the social and economic ramifications of HIV/AIDS and the fight against it. Focus on Bolivia Strategic sectors Equipping policy-makers to design more socially efficient and competitive trade and energy policies. This involves organising capacity-building seminars throughout the country with the Executive, Parliament, civil society and academia. The seminars will assist preparations for a negotiating position on Bolivia's newly discovered gas reserves vis-à-vis private oil companies, trade partners in the sector of energy services and neighbouring countries on the issue of oil access to the sea. The seminars will also help to build and develop a business cluster in energy services, enhancing productivity and value-added in the sector.
Partner Countries Below is the list of partner countries with which the Programme has worked in Phase I and with which it has started working in Phase II. While working in Phase II, the Programme will support follow-up activities from the Phase I. When possible, work with LDCs will be closely coordinated with the Integrated Framework and JITAP. Partner Countries Phase I Phase II Asia Nepal Indonesia Vietnam Africa Botswana Malawi Mali Kenya Morocco Senegal Tunisia Zimbabwe Europe Romania Latin America & Caribbean El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Jamaica Nicaragua Bolivia Ecuador Implications for the Programme at the Global Level The Programme will strengthen the capacities of negotiators of low-income countries to raise issues in multilateral fora, inject a development perspective into trade negotiations and tune the nature of the rules-making framework to respond more effectively to their particular policy needs. At the same time it will ensure that the policy makers in national capitals do have an understanding of the challenges being confronted by their countries at the international trade and financial fora. This will need to be coordinated with activities at the country level to provide substantive backstopping in their home countries, grounded in the productive sectors that are affected by the issues over which they are negotiating. The Programme is undertaking a series of regional policy dialogues on issues such as governance, competitiveness and globalization. This will enable intersectoral issues to be explored at a wider level and for an information exchange between policy makers, the private sector and civil society. In order to encourage policy dialogues, the Programme is launching talkdevelopment.info, an online knowledge-networking facility that will feature open discussions with participation from civil society, government and the private sector. This will be complemented by two-way debates between prominent personalities in their fields and ad-hoc sometimes-controversial papers on relevant themes.
Examples of Global Activities Regional seminars on governance, globalization and competitiveness aligning the agendas of government, business and civil society The movement across borders of goods, services, knowledge and capital, by state and non-state actors has led societies to seek new strategies for how they govern themselves and how they drive their global integration. These regional seminars, for Asia in October 2003 and for Africa and Latin America in early 2004, will bring together Ministers, CEOs and opinion leaders to develop models of governance that suit their needs. The seminars will cover issues such as such as how to sustain successful exports in the face of intense competition from newly-integrating economies; strengthening regional trade; revisiting public-private partnerships on the basis of what works, what doesn't; harnessing the media; encouraging corporate social responsibility and fostering social efficiency. Partnerships In order to implement the second phase more effectively, the Programme has identified partners among international organisations, governments and research institutes. This list is still preliminary and will evolve over time. Partnerships Country and inter-sectoral analysis Enterprise and cluster approach PPPs Social dimension of globalization Talkdevelopment UNDP regional bureaux Bilateral agencies OPEC Gulf Cooperation Council Michael Porter Institute The Competitiveness Institute Global Compact ILO DESA UNDP Poverty Net University of Lausanne Outcome Thus the Programme's activities will provide a particular focus on interactive trade and development policy spaces, connecting them with international and regional developments and the local business environment. This will be promoted through dialogue, the strengthening of linkages between competitiveness and social efficiency and institutional innovations. This will ensure that SHD is brought to the forefront of challenges being confronted by countries in their global integration. Funding Funding so far UNDP Belgium UNCTAD Italy US$4 million US$1 million 1 Associate Expert 1 Interregional Adviser on Energy Issues 1 Associate Expert Additional funding required to fully implement second phase: US$2 million, either through cost-sharing, multi-bi arrangements or direct execution by partner donors.