Minister backs trade protestors' aims

Ms Hewitt said she shared some goals with protesters

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has said she shares many of the long-term goals of anti-globalisation campaigners but insisted their methods are wrong.

Keeping poor countries out of international trade meant "cutting them off from the pathway out of poverty", she told a conference on business and society in London.

We all know our best friends are friends who tell us the uncomfortable truth

Patricia Hewitt

Ms Hewitt's comments come in the wake of serious disruption by anti-capitalist demonstrators at international trade summits in Davos, Prague and Gothenburg.

She said that many demonstrators "genuinely believe that their actions will help the world's poor but they are wrong".

Ms Hewitt gave the example of South Korea, which in 1970 had a protectionist economy and was poorer than Ghana.

"Today South Korea is richer than Portugal and the opening up of the country to world trade is one of the reasons why," she said.

Protection from exploitation?

She insisted that the WTO and other organisations could help protect workers from the exploitation anti-globalisation protesters wanted to end.

Ms Hewitt said prosperity could be linked to access to world trade

"They are opposing the very organisations that can provide an international framework for fair trade," Ms Hewitt told the conference organised by the Guardian/Observer newspapers.

"It is only through institutions like the World Trade Organisation and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that we can guarantee labour standards, environmental goals and a trade system that protects developing countries.

She conceded that there were "unacceptable business practices" in parts of the global economy with some companies believing that they could "exploit and pollute" with impunity.

"Trying to block world trade is not the answer.

"I would not be doing this job if I did not think we could use global institutions like the WTO and ILO to bring forward real change."

'Best friend' to business

Ms Hewitt pledged to be a "best friend" to business, but warned that did not mean she would be uncritical.

The government was "pro-business", she told the conference.

"But that does not mean, as some critics claim, that we have given in to globalisation, that there is no difference between Labour and the Conservatives and that we are all in thrall to big business and have left people to the mercy of multi-nationals," she said.

Ministers were on the side of profitable, productive companies, who focused on their customers, respected communities and the environment.

"We all know our best friends are friends who tell us the uncomfortable truth.

"We expect business to tell us when we have got it wrong in government, just as we will tell them when we think they are not getting it right."