Conroy presented three major ideas. He began with the statement that trade itself is a “contradictory thing.” Trade is both a threat as well as an important tool for sustainable development. As it is both a positive and a negative aspect of sustainable development, it poses some contradictory challenges. Despite the tremendous amounts of capital that flow around the globe every day, the trade of goods has a far greater impact in terms of sustainability. Concurrently, the major problem is not necessarily the material flows themselves, but rather the governance of that trade. Trade supremacy, or the subjugation of all other considerations to that of free trade, has been the most damaging aspect of increasingly globalized trade. More specifically, it is against WTO rules to ban trade for Product and Process Methods (PPM). In other words, goods made with child labor, or products from illegal logging cannot be treated differently by an importing country. This is a major challenge to implementing global standards to eliminate the most egregious practices.

Conroy presented three major ideas. He began with the statement that trade itself is a “contradictory thing.” Trade is both a threat as well as an important tool for sustainable development. As it is both a positive and a negative aspect of sustainable development, it poses some contradictory challenges. Despite the tremendous amounts of capital that flow around the globe every day, the trade of goods has a far greater impact in terms of sustainability. Concurrently, the major problem is not necessarily the material

 flows themselves, but rather the governance of that trade. Trade supremacy, or the subjugation of all other considerations to that of free trade, has been the most damaging aspect of increasingly globalized trade. More specifically, it is against WTO rules to ban trade for Product and Process Methods (PPM). In other words, goods made with child labor, or products from illegal logging cannot be treated differently by an importing country. This is a major challenge to implementing global standards to eliminate the most egregious practices.

Secondly, Conroy pointed out that focus on trade alone will not be ineffective. A pure focus on trade issues is unlikely to solve any of the related problems. Foundations and other funders have not and will not stop trade. It is the exploitation that results from trade that must also be a main focus. “Little of globalization is inevitable or unchangeable”, said Conroy. Foundations have been effective in assisting nations of the global south to better understand their needs in global negotiations. The existence of a “development round” and the tough negotiating tactics of developing countries is, in Conroy’s view, a success that can in part be attributed to the efforts of foundations.

Lastly, Conroy opined that multi-sectoral collaborative efforts, such as those the Bellagio Forum tries to foster, may have inherent structural elements that make it extremely difficult to achieve effective implementation.

Laurence Tubiana addressed the relationships between trade and justice, trade and democracy, global governance and the importance of some new actors on the global stage. “For those who are ardently pro-globalization, free trade is a silver bullet”, said Tubiana. However, they often fail to see the societal pressures created by increasingly uneven distribution of wealth that has resulted. The social pressures created by the freer movement of goods and services, whether perceived or real, endanger the social fabric that allowed such a system to be created in the first place. Some of the strains placed on different societies can be seen both in the results of democratic elections as well as the protests that indicate great discomfort and concern about the future. It would be a poor choice for the global elite to become increasingly isolate as it ignores the “collective will”.

Tubiana called for a rethinking of the trade governance regime that had been in place since WWII. The model of a small handful of actors led by 1 giant is breaking down as developing countries take an increasingly prominent role in global trade. Tubiana asked, How will we shape a world in which the current hierarchy is not the leading model?”. Partly answering this question, she sees an increasingly strong role for NGOs on a global stage. There must be legitimate, non-governmental actors to assist in the setting and monitoring of standard production process standards and norms.