Following Seattle, EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy spent the winter hot-footing it around developing nations in an attempt to patch up battered relations and convince poor countries that a new WTO round would be in their interests. They are unlikely to attempt this in the run up to the US presidential elections. Bilderberg and Transatlantic Business Dialogue meetings International business-elite networking and lobbying uberfests, often attended by one Peter Mandelson.
Ideas first discussed here have a habit of appearing on government agendas months later.
A core issue, however, will be the damaging conditions the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have attached to debt relief. The UN social summit five years ago in Copenhagen was the first held specifically to discuss world poverty and development. The summit is recognised as one of the places where the agenda reflects the concerns of developing nations. Heads of state from around the world will be attending. The UK government, however, can only manage Tessa Jowell, the new deal minister at the Department for Education and Employment.