How is Africa faring at UNCTAD X?
The balanced, considered approach to globalization that is prevailing here can only help Africa. So also does the opportunity for countries to speak out on issues related to the WTO. What are the possibilities for opening up the WTO negotiations to greater African input? The WTO talks in Seattle actually were not as exclusionary as popularly believed. There were five African countries involved in the “green room” process — South Africa, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Lesotho and Mauritius — along with many of the major developing countries, such as Indonesia and Brazil. At the end of the day, countries with 70 per cent or more of the population in the developing countries were represented… UNCTAD played a strong role in helping with preparations — our country and UNCTAD co-hosted two continent-wide conferences and one regional. Up until the point of collapse in Seattle, developing countries had a much greater impact than in previous WTO talks, and good negotiating progress was being mad
