But Arms initiative . They are of course not the last word on these topics. If our answers stimulate other questions, or indeed if you have comments on the responses, we will be glad to hear from you . For those of you interested in the discussion on sustainable trade, we have tried to present the bare essentials of the case in a user-friendly form via a background paper enclosed here . We want to achieve a pattern of economic development that can be maintained in the short and medium term, and sustained for future generations.
Sustainable development is a declared ambition for both developed and less developed countries.
We have suggestions for ways in which we can raise relevant issues in all key forums, both national and international, to ensure that the sustainability benchmark is built into the thinking of trade policy-makers worldwide. This document can be found here . A first meeting to discuss this issue will be held on 2 March, and you can find further information here . These suggestions are just the start of a process to make 'sustainable development' and its trade dimension the common sense of our age. The contributions of non-governmental organisations to this process are vital.