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20 - 26 October
CONTENTS:
WTO DG Supachai gives real meaning to "Market Access"The New Industrial Revolution - Michael Braungart at Venice IICOMING SOON
Feature Story: UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2002 / 2003Other Industry-related NewslettersPRINT-FRIENDLY VERSIONS of UNIDOScope
WTO DG Supachai gives real meaning to "Market Access"
Geneva, Switzerland, October, 2002WTO Director - General Panitchpakdi Supachai is introducing a new approach to WTO technical cooperation. The most innovative aspect of the new approach, driven by a strong commitment to comply with needs expressed by the developing countries, particularly the least developed countries (LDCs), and the one most relevant to UNIDO, is the intention to include the development of supply side capabilities in WTO technical assistance delivery.
 WTO DG Supachai, WTO DDG Rana and UNIDO ADG di Liscia |
DG Supachai clearly indicated the importance he places on the WTO technical assistance agenda by his participation in the WTO Committee on Trade and Development meeting (chaired by Bangladesh Ambassador Toufiq Ali) on 8 October, 2002. It was the first time a WTO DG had accepted an invitation to attend such a committee meeting. Referring to the "Coordinated WTO Secretariat Annual Technical Assistance Plan 2003" (WT/COMTD/W/104) as a "key element in my evolving thoughts on this subject", DG Supachai said that "Technical assistance to build capacity for trade negotiations is not the totality of all TA", and in addition to the delivery of technical assistance for the understanding of the rules and their implementation which is being done in collaboration with UNCTAD, ITC, UNDP, the World Bank, the IMF, the World Customs Organization, the International Standardizing Bodies and others", that "Another key element is technical assistance for the construction of commercial infrastructure, which will enable developing and least - developed countries to draw on the benefits of improved market access and the open, rules- based trading system".
The new approach advocated by DG Supachai, which emphasises "result - oriented coordination with other agencies", is a real breakthrough for the developing countries - and UNIDO. "Technical assistance for the construction of commercial infrastructure" - creating competitive productive capacities in the developing countries so that they are able "to draw on the benefits of improved market access" defines UNIDO's Market Access Initiative.
The new WTO position is now beginning to reflect what the developing countries have been telling UNIDO: that for "Trade-related technical assistance" to be meaningful, in addition to having infrastructures and competencies for trade negotiation, customs procedures and documentation flows, they need to have competitive higher value-added products to export. Remarkably, until now, the majority of "trade - related technical assistance" by agencies other than UNIDO, has presumed the existence of productive capacities. UNIDO Director - General Carlos Magariños, who has been campaigning for a reassessment of the development agenda for most of his tenure at UNIDO, brought this anomaly to the attention of the International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, 18 - 22 March, 2002, with the introduction of UNIDO's Trade Facilitation Initiative and Trust Fund. The UNIDO initiative now goes under the banner of "Market Access" because of the narrower generally accepted meaning "Trade Facilitation" has in development circles, and because of the common features of the UNIDO initiative with the New Partnership for Africa's Development "NEPAD Market Access Initiative".
The recognition by WTO of the importance of including UNIDO in its technical cooperation activities coincides with the recognition by UNIDO of the importance of upgrading its presence in Geneva. UNIDO Geneva underwent a dramatic facelift in January 2002, when Assistant Director - General Alberto di Liscia took over the position of Director of the Office. Shortly after, Bernardo Calzadilla, from UNIDO's Quality Standardization and Metrology Branch, which is at the centre of UNIDO's activities in Market Access, also moved to Geneva. The Geneva Office has been making a concerted effort to extend UNIDO's participation in WTO activities beyond its traditional activities in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Committee (see "A Compilation and Summary of the Responses Received to the Questionnaire for a Survey to Assist Developing Country Members to Identify and Prioritise their Specific Needs in the TBT Field" (G/TBT/W/186), published by WTO on 14 October, 2002), to the Committees on Trade and Transfer of Technology and Trade and Environment. Very soon, UNIDO's activities will also be presented to the Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. UNIDO Geneva is also now better able to take advantage of its proximity to high-level residents and visitors, as was the case when World Bank President James Wolfensohn was in town on 10 October, 2002. ADG di Liscia was able to personally express UNIDO's interest in cooperating in the WB/WTO initiative on Standards and Trade.
Discussions on 18 October, 2002, with WTO Deputy Director - General Kipkorir Aly Azad Rana, who is responsible for technical cooperation, indicate that the most effective way to initiate the new WTO - UNIDO partnership may be in the context of a the "Trade Clinic" concept recently launched by DG Supachai. The "Trade Clinic" is a prompt action mechanism to provide intensive care to particular problems such as the one UNIDO participated in regarding the 1999 EU ban on Nile Perch from Lake Victoria. UNIDO's quick action in the formulation and implementation of its Integrated Programmes is another indication of its experience and competence with this approach. DDG Rana has been invited to the next session of the UNIDO Industrial Development Board, 19 - 21 November 2002, to have a closer look at the practical aspects of cooperation.
Alberto di Liscia, Tel: (+41 22) 917 33 67 or 917 33 64, E-mail: A.diLiscia@unido.org
The New Industrial Revolution - Michael Braungart at Venice II
this is the second in a series of articles on the recent UNIDO meeting in Venice
Venice, Italy, 3 October, 2002
 WASTE = FOOD Michael Braungart at Venice II |
Michael Braungart, coauthor with Bill McDonough of the book "Cradle to Cradle - Remaking the Way We Make Things" was one of the special contributors to Venice II - Updating and Fleshing Out the Development Agenda, held in Venice, Italy on 3-4 October, 2002. "The thinking behind the "Cradle to Cradle" approach", Michael said "is that every waste becomes food for the next process, either in a technical cycle or in a biological cycle". Michael introduced himself as a Professor of material flow management. He looks at how to organize material flows, "not in a way that makes me 90% bad instead of 100% bad, but exactly the opposite, that is, not to minimize the ecological footprint, but to make it supportive of other animals on this planet", so that the bigger our footprint is the better. Michael, who has worked for UNIDO in China, Poland and Malaysia was invited to Venice II by UNIDO Director - General Carlos Magariños because of his interest in the "the emerging transformation of human industry from a system that takes, makes, and wastes, to one that celebrates natural, economic, and cultural abundance", what Michael and his partner Bill McDonough call "The Next Industrial Revolution", and the part the new paradigms they expouse can play in the formulation of a new development agenda.
William McDonough and Michael Braungart founded McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) in 1995 to implement their vision and intentions for advancing the Next Industrial Revolution. The future that McDonough and Braungart envision does not aim to minimize waste and toxic pollution, but to maximize the utility and value of all material assets. MBDC works to develop protocols that optimize materials and processes in both the short and long runs, while eliminating the concept of waste altogether (along with harmful materials and byproducts, legal liabilities, and many other negative effects). MBDC advocates and promotes an original concept of "eco-effective" (in contrast to eco-efficient) product design. McDonough and Braungart also worked together in 1992, on the elaboration of the "Hannover Principles - Design for Sustainability", which include the idea of "respecting relationships between spirit and matter", for the City of Hanover, to guide the preparations for EXPO 2000.
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In 1985 the team adopted the "Fractal Ecology Model for Eco-Effectiveness" which defines human activity as a path between ecology - equity and economy. So now instead of talking about Capitalism, Socialism or Ecologism we in the mileau of an "ecological social market economy". "Now we have a positive agenda", said Michael, "That is why it becomes so interesting for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. It is no longer a guilt agenda. Now we can say "I reached 10% of what I wanted to reach, and the more I do the better I am, the more I buy as a customer, the quicker the manufacturer can make a change". Industrial Development becomes a support agenda that addresses the question "How can we support technological and biological nutrient cycles"?
According to Michael, "Most of the leading US companies are working according to these design principles now. Nike, for example, say that there was toxic waste in the soles of their shoes and now "positively" chose the chemicals that go into all the Nike products worldwide. Instead of having people in Malaysia wearing masks and building waste-water treatment systems, you positively chose the chemicals which are used. This approach is a real advance, but it is not enough. WE need to have products which support nature. We are just too many on this earth for it to be enough to just be in harmony, we have to support natural systems. Just to make products bio- degradeable is not enough. We have now developed an ice cream package for Unilever which is basically a liquid. It is a polymer. Polymers are liquid at room temperature. The package is only a film when it is in the freezer. Out of the freezer it becomes a liquid and degrades within hours. But that is also not enough! What we then do is look for seeds of rare plants to be included in the polymer package, so that when you throw it away, you behave like a bird, you support nature. Your littering supports biological diversity".
 recommending a bigger ecological footprint |
To see things in a "cradle to cradle" perspective, "there is also a need to make the distinction between so-called consumer items that are actually consumed and those, like television sets, for example, that are not really consumed, that is, you don't eat your TV set! And nobody consumes a car. The only parts that are consumed are the tyres and the brake pads, the rest of it is not consumed. Things which are consumed go back in biological cycles. Things which are just used as service products need to be designed as technical nutrients. For example, if you buy a washing machine, you don't need to own the 60 different types of plastics that make up the washing machine, what you need is to wash clothes. So we have constructed a washing machine which is now being tested on the Swedish market. Instead of selling the washing machine, you sell 3,000 washes. Who wants to own a piece of hazardous waste? We analysed a TV set. It contained 4,360 different chemicals. Do you really want to own 4,360 different types of chemicals? It is better to buy what you want, so you pay per view instead. In this way the material becomes a technical nutrient". Cradle to Cradle, "is not a tree". Made from plastic resins and inorganic fillers, is a prototype for the book as a technical nutrient, that is, a product that can be broken down and circulated indefinitely in the industrial cycle.
According to Michael, cars are also about to aquire the status of technical nutrients. "Henry Ford, as you know was the father of the assembly line. Bill Ford will be the father of the disassembly line. Next year, which is Ford's 100th anniversary, we will be able to show you a project which instead of selling a car, sells the possibility of using say, 60,000 miles worth of use of the car. Everything in the car becomes a nutrient. Even the petrol and insurance are included so you pay per mile of use. This means we need to have totally new kinds of economic models as well, to deal with this". That is why Michael is currently Visiting Professor at the Darden School of Economics at Virginia University.
As part of UNIDO's follow-up to Venice II, Michael has been invited to work with UNIDO on practical ways of incorporating his "cradle to cradle" approach in UNIDO's technical cooperation. (last weeks Venice II story)
Francisco Sercovich, Tel: +43 1 26026/3079, E-mail: F.Sercovich@unido.org
COMING SOON
13th International Training Programme on Industrial Project Preparation and Appraisal with Special Focus on Fruit and Vegetable Processing Sector 2 - 20 December, 2002, Mysore, Karnataka, India. The programme is offered by the Inter-Regional Centre (IRC) for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training created by UNIDO and Government of India at Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI). See www.unido.org/doc/521857.htmls for details. Joseph Moongananiyil Tel : +431 26026/3869, E-mail jmoongananiyil@unido.org |
Post- Senegal (see story) NEPAD follow-up by International Organizations and business associations covers the calendar and the globe for the remainder of 2002. (details) |
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