Increasing public participation in trade policy-making

Public input in the formation, negotiation and implementation of trade policies is a means of fostering increased transparency in the light of country-specific conditions.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities.

1. In formulating an international strategy for the 1990s it would be prudent to assume that the third world will have to rely largely on its own resources to finance development. Foreign capital is likely to be meagre: domestic savings are also unlikely to be abundant. For these reasons alone it will be essential to make full use of the human resources available within the Third World itself. In the 1990s people should be placed firmly in the centre of development.

1. Strengthening technical cooperation on human resources development
2. Implementing public policy
3. Fostering popular participation in development

1. Reforming domestic trade policy
2. Improving efficiency of trade
3. Creating environmentally sound trading practices
4. Adapting environmental policies to changes in production and trade

1. Creating public policy networks

1. Underparticipation
2. Participation
3. Nonparticipatory