External trade can provide concrete platform in EU push for a fairer world

Date: 01/08/02

By Marc Limon

IN A speech during Green Week 2002 on 'Making globalisation work for sustainable development', Commissioner Pascal Lamy stressed the importance of trade's contribution to sustainability.

'Trade is not an end in itself,' Lamy said, 'but a means to an end. It can be a very powerful tool for development if we get the conditions right.'

In his speech, the commissioner drew particular attention to the EU's efforts to 'get the conditions right', stressing in particular its role in negotiating the Doha Development Agenda trade round and initiatives such as 'Everything But Arms'.

Indeed, the Union has made impressive and substantial progress in a number of areas designed to make trade a tool for development.

At the most fundamental level, the EU has clearly recognised the inalienable truth that there is an unbreakable link between the successful promotion of sustainable development through trade and the question of development itself.

The promotion of sustainable development through trade must take explicit account of the particular needs of developing countries.

It is clearly hopeless trying to persuade large swathes of sub-Saharan Africa to adopt environmentally and socially sustainable practices when a majority of the people are living below the poverty line.

Therefore, sustainability must be seen as one component of an overall trade 'package' that also includes poverty alleviation, development aid and technical assistance. The Union clearly recognises this and its work in these fields is indeed admirable.

At a practical level, the EU has undertaken a number of concrete actions designed to promote the trade dimension of sustainable development.

Firstly, the European Commission was one of the principal protagonists behind the formation of the Doha Development Agenda. In the years and months preceding the Doha ministerial, Europe continually pushed for the new World Trade Organisation round to take full and explicit account of the specific needs of developing countries.

Although not everyone agrees that the final agreement reached at Doha is as helpful to developing countries as the EU and US would have us believe, it is clearly a positive step.

Secondly, the EU now uses Sustainability Impact Assessments in all trade negotiations, both multilateral and bilateral.

Thirdly, the Union's Everything But Arms initiative creates tariff- and quota-free market access for all products except arms from 49 Least Developed Countries. This will definitely increase imports from these countries, although, in the case of some raw materials such as sugar, it will possibly be to the detriment of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which used to be the sole beneficiaries of tariff preferences.

However, these actions only represent a start. The EU has a great opportunity to promote the external dimension of sustainable development because of its power and influence in the areas of trade and developmental assistance. It must grasp this opportunity.

The EU should identify those areas where it can make a real difference and focus all its resources on moving these areas forward.

Moreover, it is vital that Europe also uses its influence to ensure that other developing countries follow its lead in promoting the external dimension of sustainable development.

It has already made a start in this respect by challenging other developed countries to replicate Everything But Arms.

However, it is clear that without a greater buy-in from the wider developed world, trade will not be seen as a tool for development but could instead continue be seen by developing countries as a tool for maintaining global inequality.

In this respect, the possibility that US President George W. Bush may shun August's Sustainable Development summit in South Africa appears particularly alarming.

Only by continuing to take concrete steps to promote the sustainable dimension of external trade, and by encouraging its partners to do the same, will Europe truly make a difference in the area of sustainable development and in turn promote a fairer world.

• Marc Limon is a member of the trade practice group at communication consultants Hill and Knowlton.

Feature on the role of trade in the promotion of sustainable development. Article is part of a European Voice survey on sustainable development.