DEBT, DEVELOPMENT, AND SECURITY

If current trends persist, extreme poverty in the world\'s least developed countries, far from being eradicated, will expand from 334 million people in 2000 to 471 million in 2015, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In this article, Ricupero writes that nonetheless there is no justification for development pessimism regarding LDCs. Between 2000-2002 the poorest of the poor countries enjoyed a real average annual GDP growth rate of almost 5 percent, almost 1 percent more than the rest of the developing economies, which shows that development for the LDCs can be achieved and accelerated through the right strategies and a friendly environment. He calls for a new international covenant in which solidarity is granted the same stature in our aspirations as peace. Ricupero notes that the new kinds of threats to peace and security are often found in conjunction with a failed State with an economy in regression. It would be futile to fight these phenomena without addressing the sources of grievances that they exploit. This is a particularly clear example of the lack of coherence in the global system. It is indispensable to widen the door that leads to development and to remove the biases, imbalances, and distortions which make the path to development too steep for the weak to climb.

INCREASED TRADE NO PANACEA FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In the 40 years since the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) was founded, the international environment has been radically transformed by globalisation, and the problems experienced by developing countries today require innovative approaches, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The eleventh quadrennial UNCTAD conference will be held in Sao Paulo, June 13-18. In this article for IPS, Ricupero writes that the conference will define the type of national and multilateral measures that are needed to ensure that integration into the world economy yields real development gains for developing countries. Open trade regimes and financial markets alone are not enough. The author notes that in many developing countries, conventional, market-based policies have not lived up to expectations for sustainable development and poverty reduction, arguing that trade policies should be complemented by redistributive policies, primarily through taxes, as UNCTAD proposes.

IN LONG RUN, OUTSOURCING WILL BENEFIT EVERYONE

The emerging reality of global enterprises that can shift their business across borders with increasing ease to maximise profits poses both an opportunity for competitive countries and a challenge to some of the standards prevailing in other societies, writes Reubens Ricupero, . In this article Ricupero writes that a heated debate is under way on whether or not outsourcing undermines the accepted trade liberalisation paradigm, is leading to a job exodus from developed to developing countries, and what the cost/benefit ratio is and whether protectionist government intervention is needed. Claims of a big wave of offshoring to poor countries swallowing up high-skill jobs in rich countries do not reflect reality. Outsourcing export opportunities for developing countries are much broader than generally presented, with a wide range of these countries significantly increasing their presence in global outsourcing markets. While the realisation of these opportunities may in fact lead to increased job losses in advanced countries, it should be recognised that these short-term costs will ultimately be trumped by the long-term gains of cheaper services being available to consumers in both advanced and developing countries.

HOW EU AND US FARM SUBSIDIES HURT THEIR OWN FARMERS

The most forceful moral and political justification for agricultural subsidies in the EU and US is that they save small farmers, yet the facts clearly demonstrate they are not doing so, writes Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Ricupero writes that over the past 15 years, as subsidies have expanded relentlessly small farmers in these areas have become poorer and poorer in relation to the rest of the population. Kevin Watkins, Head of Research of Oxfam, writes: \'\'Far from benefiting small farmers, agricultural support goes overwhelmingly to large-scale, capital-intensive agriculture, and for a good reason: support is closely correlated with production levels, or -- in the case of direct payments -- to land ownership. \'\' We should all praise the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and his colleagues in moving away from production and price-linked subsidies. But it is unclear from preliminary reports whether the reforms announced recently will substantially change the current concentration of 80 percent of payments in the hands of 20 percent of the bigger farmers, or to what extent the new system will prove less trade-distorting.

The Pitfalls of the Petroleum Age

The era of cheap oil slowed the search for alternative energy sources and the development of environment-friendly technologies.