North-South Dialogue

North-South dialogue in Global Commerce Policy

In this regard, north-south dialogue is: a process of discussions and negotiations, frequently acrimonious and fruitless, between the developed or industrialized countries (the North) and the developing countries (the South). Some see it as having begun in the early 1960s with, for example, the Alliance for Progress and the moves leading to the establishment of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in 1964 and the concurrent formation of the Group of 77. The entries on trade policy in the Encyclopedia are here. Others date the beginning of the North-South dialogue to the Conference on International Economic Cooperation, convened by France in 1975, which itself concluded in 1977 without any concrete results. The more or less formal end of the dialogue came with the 1980 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly. There is little disagreement on this point. Whatever exact starting point one accepts for the North-South dialogue, it followed the arrival in the United Nations and its specialized agencies of a large number of newly-independent developing countries. Their numbers allowed them increasingly to define or influence the work program of these bodies. This, coupled with the view advocated strongly by many developing countries that their legitimate concerns about development, economic growth and participation in the global trading system were not being taken seriously by the developed countries, led by the early 1970s to a realization by the North that something had to be done. The OPEC decision in 1973 to quadruple the price of oil provided an additional incentive for this. What followed was a range of political and economic initiatives, many of which did not endure. The entries on trade policy are here. In outline, in 1974 the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution on the New International Economic Order, in effect a vast claim for the transfer of resources from the North to the South. The adoption of the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States, an attempt to redefine aspects of international law, occurred in the same year. The entries on trade policy are here. Early in 1975 followed the first Lomé Convention which, though producing advantages for developing countries, also showed that probably they did not have the power to force a rapid change. This became clearer at the Conference on International Economic Cooperation, mentioned above, held in the same year. There had been moves in the United Nations system since 1977 to start a program of Global Negotiations in 1980. The launch of the Brandt Report in 1980 appeared to give promise of a new start. However, by that time the gap between the two sides had become unbridgeable, their positions largely incapable of movement, and the dialogue petered out. There have been periodic calls for the revival of the North-South dialogue, but discussions on how to do it always got bogged down in the preliminaries. See also Harries Report.[1]

North-South dialoguein the wold Encyclopedia

For an introductory overview on international trade policy, see this entry.

Resources

Notes and References

1. Dictionary of Trade Policy, “North-South dialogue” entry (OAS)

See Also