Brussels, 07/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - Contributing towards conciliating trade and development in the framework of globalisation. Thus is, in substance, the aim of the first in a series of seminars organised around the theme "poverty alleviation and sustainable development" that have been launched, on 6 March in Brussels, by the World Bank and The European Policy Centre (EPC). Notably present at this first seminar will be, Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner responsible for Trade, Gun-Britt Anderson, President of the EU Development Council and Uri Dadush, from the World Bank.
Following the seminar on Tuesday, organised with the support of the Swedish Presidency of the EU, Gun-Britt Anderson recalled that it is thanks to its historic faith in free trade that Sweden, small country, posts a respectable weight on the world scene in terms of revenue. In the crowd, Pascal Lamy asserted that it is important that trade does not appear as a cunning force. Moreover, this is the whole philosophy of the European Commission's "Everything but arms" initiative, which was raised many times on Tuesday. Noting that the poor must also draw benefits from globalisation, Mr Lamy felt that it was for the Commission and EU to ensure coherence in trade and development policies to achieve this and that, in the context of globalisation, rules are required, reason for which he once more called in favour of the opening of a new round of multilateral trade negotiation. Statements than will warm the heart of Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations who, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, stated that the large industrialised countries, and in particular the United States, should follow the example set by the European Union.
Uri Dadush underlined that the opening of trade had been a powerful support to the rapid growth in one third of the developing countries during the last decade, and that a tangible reduction in poverty could indubitably be associated to such growth. However, he admitted that among the countries, which have rapidly adapted to globalisation, the inequality of revenues had increased in China, while it fell in countries such as Thailand, Malaysia and Costa Rica. Mr Dadush felt that the poorest segments of the population should be the focus of special attention, even though it is not proven that they are necessarily the most affected by the process. The answer to this problem, he concluded, is not to avoid or to differ the reform of world trade, but rather to implement compensatory policies allowing to soften the impact on the most poor.