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DE RUEHC #1447/01 1590024
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 070014Z JUN 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2070
INFO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 0928

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 061447 
 
SIPDIS, SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID ECON ETRD ECIN EFIN EINV TSPL SMIG PREL ELAB
ELTN, SENV 
SUBJECT: TWELFTH UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ADOPTS ACCRA ACCORD 
 
¶1. (SBU) The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development 
(UNCTAD)'s quadrennial conference took place in Accra, 
Ghana, April 20-25. On balance, its outcome document, the 
221 paragraph Accra Accord represents progress for 
developed countries and UN reform, and can be used as a 
reference document, replacing the now obsolete Sao Paulo 
Consensus.  The conference consisted of a plenary, in 
which member state heads of delegation delivered 
statements, a committee of the whole to negotiate the 
outcome document, nine high-level thematic roundtables, 
and numerous side events.  The U.S. delegation numbered 
twelve and was led by State's IO/EDA Office Director.  The 
next quadrennial conference will be in Doha in 2012. 
 
¶2. (SBU) There were 193 member states represented at the 
conference and a total of approximately 4,000 attendees 
including several heads of state and trade, finance, and 
development ministers.  The U.S. delegation comprised 
twelve officials representing the Department of Commerce, 
the Department of Agriculture, the office of the U.S Trade 
Representative, USUN New York, the U.S. Mission in Geneva, 
and the State Department's International Organizations and 
Economic, Energy, and Business Affairs bureaus. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The theme of the conference was "Addressing the 
opportunities and challenges of globalization for 
development." UN Secretary General (SYG) Ban Ki-moon in 
the opening session of the conference focused on the 
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the food crisis. 
He asserted that the world faces a "development emergency" 
and that Africa, in particular, is not on track to meet 
the MDGs; that development activities must be heightened; 
and that the rise in global food prices has compounded 
development challenges.  The food crisis became a 
prominent topic in conference discussions throughout the 
week.  SYG Ban also noted that climate change has become a 
formidable factor in development, and also urged a 
successful conclusion of the WTO Doha Round. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Noteworthy presentations were made by several 
high-level officials.  President Halonen of Finland 
emphasized that there is no Nokia-like "silver bullet" 
solution to development, and that countries must focus on 
education and business-friendly environments.  President 
Lula of Brazil gave a spirited defense of sugar-based 
ethanol and trumpeted Brazil's agricultural cooperation 
and solidarity with the African continent.  He emphasized 
the need to remove barriers from "South-South" trade and 
pledged that Brazil would take steps in that regard. 
India's Minister of Commerce, Nath, glorified the GOI's 
initiative to increase duty-free treatment for LDC 
exports.  WTO Director General Lamy championed a 
conclusion to the Doha Round and characterized a failure 
to reach a negotiated solution to the Round as the world 
"failing Africa." 
 
¶5. (SBU) In the plenary session, the U.S. statement urged UNCTAD 
to focus and streamline its work in order to become a more 
effective organization. The U.S. praised UNCTAD's good 
technical programs, such as entrepreneurship training, and 
encouraged UNCTAD to expand its trade capacity-building 
work.  Each of the nine conference roundtables comprised a 
discussion by a panel of experts and comments and 
questions from member state participants.  Round-table 
topics included: social and gender implications of 
globalization, foreign investment and sustainable 
development, commodities, South-South trade, technology, 
debt management, Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and 
UNCTAD reform.  In stark contrast to the entrenched 
positions of some G77 negotiators, several presenters from 
G77 governments that participated in the conference's 
roundtable discussions took a decidedly optimistic view of 
good governance and the developmental benefits from trade 
and globalization.  Panelists, including those from El 
Salvador, Jamaica, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, 
Tunisia, and Uganda delivered remarks that emphasized the 
benefits of open markets and of carefully managed and 
complementary domestic programs, rather than extolling the 
virtues of market intervention or protectionism.  The U.S. 
head of delegation participated as a discussant on the 
"Harnessing Knowledge and Technology for Development" 
roundtable and as a panelist on an UNCTAD reform. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Side events at the conference included a luncheon on 
climate change, a meeting hosted by the land-locked 
 
STATE 00061447  002 OF 003 
 
SUBJECT: TWELFTH UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ADOPTS ACCRA ACCO 
developing countries (LLDCs), and a "Creative Africa" 
series which highlighted local culture and music.  Most 
significant among the side events was the April 18-21 
World Investment Forum (WIF), which included the general 
assembly of the World Association of Investment Promotion 
Agencies (WAIPA).  Several U.S. companies participated 
actively in the WIF.  This was complemented by a 
roundtable on "creating an institutional environment 
conducive to foreign investment and sustainable 
development," in which panelists touted the benefits of 
macroeconomic stability, transparency, predictability, 
effective legal/regulatory regimes, and avoiding 
indebtedness.  China's vice minister of Trade, Yi Xiaozhun, 
acknowledged that FDI in China, $763 billion as of 
year-end 2007, while representing only 3% of enterprises, 
was critical, as those enterprises accounted for 58% of 
exports and 10% of employment.  To attract FDI, China had 
provided both "hardware" (infrastructure such as roads and 
ports) and "software" (a claimed, predictable legal 
system).  Yi cited China's corporate income tax and 
anti-monopoly laws along with 121 bilateral investment 
treaties as examples of the latter. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The formal negotiations of the outcome document took 
place over the course of the conference in the Committee 
of the Whole sessions, addressing those issues still 
unresolved after months of negotiation in Geneva. 
Following several heated discussions, key negotiating 
group break-out sessions, late nights, and some eleventh 
hour compromises, member states reached consensus and 
adopted the 221 paragraph Accra Accord on April 25.  The 
Accord defines the work plan for UNCTAD for the next four 
years, as set out in the "UNCTAD's Contribution" sections 
of the document.  Notably, the document includes an entire 
section on UNCTAD institutional reform that represents 
real progress for developed countries.  Whereas a 
compromise was made to include mention of "good 
governance" only once in the introduction of the document 
(in exchange for the same, limited treatment of the 
contentious phrase "policy space"), there are several 
references to accountability and transparency as keys to 
development and trade issues, including in the use of 
commodities revenues. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The U.S. delegation held the line on potentially 
harmful "policy space" language and successfully 
negotiated the insertion of a critical paragraph which 
clearly outlines the organization of the document.  The 
organizational paragraph is key because it defines 
UNCTAD's mandate by limiting the scope of UNCTAD's work on 
issues such as climate change, migration, and intellectual 
property which the U.S. and other member states feel are 
largely outside of its purview.  UNCTAD had been working 
on these and other issues based on its broad 
interpretation of the Sao Paulo Consensus (from its UNCTAD 
XI conference in 2004) and the prior 44 years of mandates 
which were never clearly defined or updated, only added 
to.  The UNCTAD Secretariat lobbied extensively for a more 
direct and broad mandate in these areas, but instead was 
given a definite mandate in Accra that could help restrain 
the body from pursuing politically sensitive, non-trade 
related research in these areas. Our delegation also held 
strong on U.S. positions pertaining to language on the 
importance of an open, rules-based multilateral trading 
system, Aid for Trade, WTO accession, preference erosion, 
and commodities. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The block of developing countries, the G-77, viewed the 
UNCTAD XII process as an opportunity to also feed into 
future multilateral development conferences slated for 
later this year such as Aid Effectiveness (September, 
Accra) and the Financing for Development Review (FfD) 
(November, Doha).  The G-77 pushed for increased, 
open-ended commitments of official development assistance 
(ODA) and elimination of good governance commitments, an 
approach that runs counter to the Monterrey Consensus on 
Financing for Development.  Developing countries also 
pushed for language that inaccurately claims that MDGs, 
across the board, would not be met, ignoring development 
gains made over the past several years.  The U.S. and 
other developed countries advocated a more balanced 
approach to development, emphasizing the role of the 
domestic policy environment as well as trade and 
investment, and reinforced the concept that developing 
countries have primary responsibility for their own 
development. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Comment. There were several setbacks along the way in 
reaching consensus on the Accord and conditions -- 
including unreliable IT resources and communications 
capabilities in Accra --made the already volatile 
 
STATE 00061447  003 OF 003 
 
SUBJECT: TWELFTH UN CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ADOPTS ACCRA ACCO 
negotiating atmosphere more challenging.  Six months of 
negotiations in Geneva leading up to the conference in 
Accra were slow and difficult, largely due to the 
inability of the G-77 to effectively coordinate its 
positions and due to fundamental policy differences 
between developing and developed countries.  The 
negotiations in Geneva were frenetic, disorganized, and 
often called at a moment's notice, making the process of 
compiling guidance from USG stakeholders in Washington and 
negotiation in Geneva of constantly changing text trying. 
Exacerbating these issues were actors within the UNCTAD 
Secretariat who attempted to influence negotiations to 
advance personal agendas. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment cont'd.  In Accra, a move by the Palestinians 
to insert unacceptable language into the outcome document 
and possibly table a radical resolution erupted into a 
crisis that threatened to undermine the entire 
conference.  Contrived theatrics by the Brazilian 
Ambassador/head of delegation in his role as lead G-77 
negotiator were bizarre and unconstructive.  The process, 
leading up to the very end, was riddled with 
inefficiencies and frustrating for participants. 
Initiatives to reform UNCTAD should help to improve the 
process for the next quadrennial conference, but officers 
covering UNCTAD XIII may consider taking steps early on in 
the process to insist upon an organized and productive 
negotiating schedule and, to the extent possible, be aware 
of tactics that could be used to detract from the core 
objectives of the conference.  End Comment. 
 
¶12.  (U) Minimize Considered 
RICE