Brussels, 09/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - Following the recommendations set out in the report by Rapporteur Nirj Deva (British Conservative) on "trade and development for poverty eradication and food security", the European Parliament last week adopted, in Strasbourg, a resolution calling for a new method to increase the financing of development cooperation and assistance at the global level through the development of enterprises, with the help of trade initiatives. After the vote, Mr Deva summarised the approach that he is proposing. He said "global corporations that are currently outside the development process can now be brought in alongside MEPs and National Parliaments, forming a triumvirate to instil good governance in third-world countries".
With its vote, the Parliament considers that an "open, rules based, non-discriminatory and equitable trading system" is an indispensable factor for economic growth in favour of the poor populations, employment and sustainable development in the world. On the basis of this, it considers that development policies must go hand in hand with trade policies geared to reducing poverty, promoting employment, creating wealth and general economic, social and cultural development. Any future form of development and economic cooperation should, says the EP, place emphasis on strengthening the capacities of the poor countries and on technical assistance to encourage major institutional changes in LDC in order to guarantee the protection of property and the right of ownership, the smooth working of legal administrations, and in particular for small loans, access to justice, and greater SME responsibility through the easy formation of liability companies, micro-loans, the establishment of an information technologies sector, training centres and schools for the acquisition of basic computer knowledge and the creation of schools of commerce, etc.
Parliament considers that the OECD guidelines for multinational companies should be an integral part of the Union's trade and development policies. It proposes setting in place investment ethics committees within multinational companies, to ensure that business projects are geared to developing local capacities in the social, industrial and services fields. It invites the multinational companies to adopt transparency rules whereby they would be under an obligation to account for their investment activities and for the impact such activity would have on the environment and on society. It calls for international accounting standards to be extended, according to the model of the "global reporting" initiative, which encourages the taking into account of economic, social and environmental criteria in accounting reports and corporate annual progress reports. The Parliament also calls for the creation of a European Business Forum for Sustainable Development as the backbone of a new approach for development and cooperation.
Convinced that regional integration is one of the best ways to integrate developing countries in the global economy, MEPs call on the World Bank to support the needs of micro-businesses and of local cooperations. The Parliament is of the opinion that regional and sub-regional trade agreements, as well as free trade areas, may contribute to the establishment of a fairer multilateral trading system, and calls on developing countries to reduce the trade barriers that exist between them.
As far as food security is concerned, the Parliament requests that, at world level, access to food in sufficient quantity and of sufficient quality should be recognised as a fundamental human right. It calls on the European Union to stop exporting pesticides prohibited on its own territory to LDC and to apply the same high food safety and labelling requirements for European consumers and for the foodstuffs and animal feed for animals exported to these countries.