Concentration of power and wealth in the hands of not only few countries but most importantly in the hands of few corporations is a fundamental challenge to globalization for promoting trade and development”, said Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Secretary General, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Dr Kituyi was delivering a well-attended Thought Leadership Lecture organised by CUTS International and FICCI here yesterday.
He mentioned that current economic growth has not shown geographical balance. Developing countries should leverage technology to become part of global production process and regional/global value chains, and coming in mainstream. He further emphasised on the future role of emerging economies to recover from global economic slowdown.
Dr Sanjaya Baru, Secretary General, FICCI in his welcome remarks, mentioned that UNCTAD has an important role to play to bring development back in the world trade agenda.
The session was moderated by Mr Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International. Mr Mehta initiated the talk by pointing out that “is it the best time for bringing the development agenda back when protectionism is increasing, especially through non-tariff barriers?”
The occasion was also graced by distinguished discussant Dr Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy and Member Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. Dr Roy highlighted that export led growth should contribute to social security and welfare by spending export proceeds on social services such as education and health. He mentioned that rules of finance are different from rules of trade and there are inefficiencies in the current economic structure for promoting inclusive growth.
While responding to questions on conflict between globalisation and sustainable development goals (SDGs), Dr Kituyi stated that inter-country movement of goods and services leads to achieve SDGs if rules of trade are governed properly. He pointed out the lack of synergy between trade facilitation and investment facilitation as a challenge to inclusive growth.
Trade should not be only export from one country to another country but exporting country must create investment in the importing country. He stressed upon the need to create a new global economic order for spreading globalisation benefits to the emerging economies.
In his vote of thanks and concluding remarks, Dr Baru emphasised upon the future role of UNCTAD in promoting trade and development in developing countries and invited UNCTAD for more collaborative work with CUTS International and FICCI.
The discussion witnessed active participation from several stakeholders including industry, former regulators, think-tanks, academia, media and civil society.
For more information please contact:
Vijay Singh
Email: vs@cuts.org