Theme

In 2003, the Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference will be held under the auspices of Václav Havel on October 15-17, 2003, at the Municipal House in Prague. The conference will elaborate on the issues of international trade, issues of corporate accountability and responsibility, debt management and global public goods. The conference will consist of plenary sessions and four expert discussions in workshop format, each addressing one of the above-mentioned aspects of global economy. At the end of each expert discussion, the participants will summarize the key points of their discussions and formulate their proposals about how to tackle some of the dilemmas facing us today.

Workshops

1. Trade and Agriculture: Current Debates and Controversies

"The current system of global economic governance needs to be fundamentally reformed. Double standards in international trade must be eradicated and a fair playing field for all must be ensured," concluded last year's Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference (BGG) at the workshop addressing international trade and finance. The participants have agreed on general directions for the necessary reforms, including democratization and empowerment of multilateral institutions and improved coherence of their policies. Coming approximately one month after the ministerial summit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Cancún, this year's BGG conference will provide a great opportunity to reflect upon its results and upon the future of the multilateral trade framework. Did Cancún bring us closer to achieving a fair playing field or is it rather a step backward toward reinforcing double standards of international trade? Are the WTO and the multilateral trade framework under a threat from proliferation of bilateral agreements and trade wars? Was the effort of many NGOs to "derail Cancún" right or wrong in this context? Can we achieve a fair playing field for agricultural trade through maximum market access or rather through increasing food sovereignty? Finally, how can we address the problem of falling prices of agricultural commodities?

Representatives of the WTO, governments as well as farmers and civil society representatives are expected to be among the panellists.

2. Transnational Corporations: Sustainability, Accountability and Partnership

In 2002, at the Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps Conference, different strategies for translating desired values into concrete steps in corporate behaviour were extensively debated. Participants of the workshop dealing with the issues of Ethics, Accountability and Sustainability in the World of Transnational Corporations jointly concluded that "a concentrated strategy to implement the goals of accountability, transparency and environmental protection under the same umbrella in a UN-structured framework needs to be established."

While an increasing number of corporations welcome the concept of sustainable development as a means of achieving both shareholder value and social and environmental values, NGOs often argue that there is a lack of tangible results. Today, multi-stakeholders' partnerships, good governance, voluntary self-regulation and corporate social responsibility (CSR) codes are on the top of the agenda of corporations facing the challenges of globalization. Are these inside strategies effective in achieving the desired level of change and reflecting the "triple bottom line" of profit, social responsibility and sustainable development? What should be done in order to make them work better? Or are critics from NGOs and civil society right when stressing the importance of 'outside' approaches involving the external regulation of corporate activities at local, national and international levels? Are synthetic combined approaches that provide external evaluation of adherence to voluntary codes, such as the Global Reporting Initiative, effective and desired? How, given these differing agendas, can a multi-stakeholder partnership evolve and operate in order to meet the pressing goals of today?

Representatives of the corporate sector, civil society organizations as well as lawyers will participate in this workshop.

3. Unsustainable Debt: Remedies and Prevention

In 2002 at the Forum 2000: Bridging Global Gaps workshop on the external debt, participants jointly stated that "the debt situation in the developing world would be unsustainable under present scenarios". Since then, the major effort to create an international insolvency framework - the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM), favoured by the International Monetary Fund, was stopped. However, the SDRM process triggered a lively and controversial debate among a broad set of stakeholders and indicated a need to reform the international financial architecture. Its failure, paradoxically, provides an opportunity to reflect upon this debate and can help to restart the discussion with a broader range of views on the issues at stake. The Bridging Global Gaps workshop on unsustainable debt aims at taking a closer look at options for an improved setting for debt negotiations once a country gets close to a situation of insolvency. Which kind of frameworks and which sets of criteria for crisis resolution will provide the least costly alternative to all involved with the highest possible degree of fairness regarding the sharing of the costs? Which one will have the highest potential for preventing the resurgence of similar crisis situations? How can transparency and meaningful participation of civil society be promoted?

The participants from the Bretton Woods Institutions, private creditors, developing nations and non-governmental organizations are expected to take part.

4. Global Public Goods: Ambitious Approach or Impossible Ideal

In 2001, the Prague Declaration adopted by the participants of the Forum 2000 conferences stated that, "The challenge of global democracy is one of finding instruments and institutions that will equally protect globally shared values and local differences." The issue of the Public Goods represents both these shared values and major challenge for the existing instruments of global governance. The participants of the workshop on the Global Public Goods will discuss what can be described as the very substance - both negative and positive - of the globalization process. The Global Public Goods represent issues that consumers anywhere in the world cannot be excluded from: issues as broad as peace and security, alleviation of HIV/AIDS pandemics or financial stability. This concept implies an increasing need for creating global policies that would effectively deal with these issues. This workshop should consider concrete institutional arrangements, operational policies and financing mechanisms for enhancing the provision of global public goods.

The workshop shall bring together delegates from multilateral institutions, civil society movements and governments.