Topic 1 : What kind of global chain of trade for fair development?

SECTORIAL WORKSHOPS
Issues relevant to all the sectorial workshops

In all fields, the economy weaves its fabric on a global level: most companies now have suppliers and subcontractors in other countries. Connected to the major transnational production and distribution companies that form the structure of this fabric, there lies a vast network of subcontractors and suppliers on the production side, and of distribution and service providers on the end-user side. Such globalisation contributes to development, but it has brought with it extreme inequality in the redistribution of added value, and sharp disparities in work conditions between the various links in the chain.

This chain is essentially structured around major sectors of activity, starting with the utilisation of raw materials and ending in the consumption of goods and services. Due to the high degree of interdependence of the links in the chain, greater equity in trade and a logic of sustainable development cannot be achieved by a single isolated actor in a given sector of activity.

The sector of activity is thus an important vehicle for analysis, action and innovation for designing a more balanced system of trade that will be more compatible with the requirements of genuine sustainable development; and for proposing ways of regulating the chain of production and distribution which are capable of providing everyone with the opportunity to invest and create the conditions required for shared development.

International analyses of activity sectors is still rare. The Lyon forum takes the original approach of energizing the process of work and dialogue between actors. The very first forum will focus on three sectors of activity found in most countries in the world, and which are historically significant for the Rhône-Alpes Region: the textile-garment sector, tourism and the agro-food business.

Each sector of activity has its own specificity, but during the forum, they will all be examined from a single perspective, via several key questions:

• How is added value created and redistributed throughout the sector of activity, and how can equitable trade be developed?
• How can better working conditions be promoted and how can decent and fair wages be guaranteed for all stakeholders?
• Which flows of materials, especially non-renewable resources, are mobilised, scattered or recycled throughout the sector of activity, and how can the consumption of natural resources, the risk of their depletion and their renewal be managed?
• How are know-how and skills mobilised and what transfers of knowledge come into play?
• Which balances of power and which capacities for initiative exist between the various actors of the sector of activity?
• Which structural transformations and which strategies for change can be imagined by the different actors?