ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: The trade liberalization and other trade reforms must be followed by a greater focus on accompanying reforms, such as governance, institutional strengthening and infrastructure development, to become a more effective tool for development and poverty reduction in developing countries, including Pakistan.
This was observed by speakers at the 8th sustainable development conference held here on Wednesday. The three-day conference was organized by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) that has brought together renowned experts from around the world enriching the discourse on different aspects of sustainable development.
They said it was also necessary that these reforms were domestically owned so that they respond to the specific needs of the countries involved. And there should be much coherence among various stakeholders before finalizing any strategy.
Abu Eusuf from Bangladesh in his paper “trade liberalization and poverty” highlighted Bangladesh’s experience that showed changes in its economy as a result of liberalization.
Suggesting that winners as well as losers emerge from policy changes, he said while large and medium-scale enterprises had gained form a competition for opening up of trade, unskilled labour and small-scale businesses had suffered, thus suggesting that while overall gains were made, they were inequitable in nature.
This point was emphasized by Dr Abid Suleri of the SDPI in his presentation, which favoured greater policy coherence so that benefits of trade are fully exploited. He stressed the use of pro-poor growth policies rather than simple growth policies.
Mr Suleri said civil society should work as a bridge between the government and consumers. He was of the opinion that there was a lack of coordination among ministries over various issues.
Shandana Gulzar of the National Institute of the WTO pointed out gaps in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. In order to increase the competitiveness of Pakistani agricultural products after trade barriers are removed under the WTO, she proposed the development of rural and export markets for agricultural products in Pakistan.
Dismissing trade as the only answer to poverty reduction, she emphasized the need for greater access to an improved justice system and governance reforms. She stressed the need for checks on inflation and external shock-absorbing mechanisms and said domestic reforms needed to be undertaken side by side with policy reforms to properly reap the benefits of trade liberalization.
UNDP’s country representative Jan J. Vandemoortele while discussing the papers presented said the WTO regime imposed one-sided reforms on the member countries, which was unfair.
He was of the opinion that the WTO took away the spirit of national policy from the member countries as it imposed a similar condition on all countries having diverse position.
The UNDP representative said: “We must be clear about it and the policy should be devised according to the region.”
At another panel discussion, Azra Talat Sayeed talked about the onslaught of globalization and the resultant trade liberalization and WTO-related policies in the agriculture sector and stressed that the WTO should stay out of agriculture.
She recommended people’s ownership over means of production as the only viable solution to the problem.