DURBAN 1999: THE COMMONWEALTH RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION.

In their Fancourt Declaration, the Commonwealth heads of government confirmed and expanded the mature approach to globalization they had launched at Edinburgh two years before. They recognized the opportunities created for growth and prosperity, but also that the benefits were not shared equally and the poor were being marginalized. Before Durban, the Commonwealth had focused on one factor hold back poor countries-the burden of external debt. A series of Commonwealth initiatives had stimulated programmes endorsed by the G7/G8 summits - most recently at Cologne in June 1999 - and by the IMF and World Bank. The Durban CHOGM kept up the pressure for progress in helping poor countries. Durban also gave unusual attention to international trade, stimulated by the imminent WTO Ministerial at Seattle. The Fancourt Declaration called for a new WTO round with a strong developmental focus, while warning that labour standards and environmental protection should not be linked to trade liberalization. In the event, the Seattle meeting failed. The rich nations offered too little to the developing countries and asked too much, especially on labour standards. The procedures left many small countries feeling excluded. This is a setback for the WTO, but need not be a fatal blow. It gives an opportunity to the Commonwealth to press its views further and could justify holding a meeting of Commonwealth trade ministers, to which the Durban communique refers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]