"The developing countries must be able to take a more active part in trade negotiations, through technical assistance and support from the developed countries"
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Aid isn’t framed here as charity; it’s framed as a prerequisite for legitimacy. Anna Lindh’s line targets a quiet imbalance at the heart of global trade: negotiations are billed as rule-making among equals, but the ability to draft text, model impacts, hire counsel, and stay in the room for endless rounds is itself a form of power. “Active part” is a diplomatic phrase that politely accuses the system of designing participation as theater, then asks the wealthy countries to fund the exit from that theater.
The key move is the pairing of “must be able” with “through technical assistance and support.” Lindh isn’t demanding special treatment for developing states; she’s demanding the tools required to play the game that rich states already know how to play. Technical assistance sounds neutral, even benevolent, but the subtext is structural: capacity-building is not an add-on to trade, it’s a condition of fairness in trade. Without it, “free” trade becomes a legalistic language that only some can speak fluently.
Context matters. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, trade talks were increasingly contested - by developing-country blocs pressing for better terms and by publics skeptical of globalization’s winners and losers. Lindh, a Swedish foreign minister from a country invested in multilateralism, is defending the credibility of the negotiating table itself. The sentence is as much about saving the institution as helping the marginalized: if poorer countries can’t participate meaningfully, the rules won’t just be unjust; they’ll be unstable, resented, and eventually ignored.
The key move is the pairing of “must be able” with “through technical assistance and support.” Lindh isn’t demanding special treatment for developing states; she’s demanding the tools required to play the game that rich states already know how to play. Technical assistance sounds neutral, even benevolent, but the subtext is structural: capacity-building is not an add-on to trade, it’s a condition of fairness in trade. Without it, “free” trade becomes a legalistic language that only some can speak fluently.
Context matters. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, trade talks were increasingly contested - by developing-country blocs pressing for better terms and by publics skeptical of globalization’s winners and losers. Lindh, a Swedish foreign minister from a country invested in multilateralism, is defending the credibility of the negotiating table itself. The sentence is as much about saving the institution as helping the marginalized: if poorer countries can’t participate meaningfully, the rules won’t just be unjust; they’ll be unstable, resented, and eventually ignored.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
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