The low morale of the 17 presidents, heads of states and foreign ministers who flew into Cairo over the weekend was also reflected in the desultory draft proposal of the tenth G-15 meeting. It calls in the most impractical and vague terms for dialogue between underdeveloped countries and the industrialized world. Some Egyptian papers said this week that the G-15 would ask industrial nations to contribute at least 0.7 percent of their gross domestic product to the developing world. The world economic system seemed to have become more unstable.
Multilateral trade implies a multiplicity of complex issues.
For example when we talk of intellectual property, only the rights of private property holders are sought to be protected. We have tended to view with some apprehension that institutions like the WTO and the process of globalization as dominated and driven by a few economically powerful countries. But in order to compete with developed countries, underdeveloped countries will need develop their export industry. Egypt, one of the G-15 countries that may find a place in the global economy more easily than others, still struggles considerably to do so. Sugar is particularly hard due to the superiority of other foreign brands and the decline of world prices.