On safeguarding stability, Sanya Reidsmith, Legal Adviser with Third World Network, discussed capital management control measures and assessed their success. She examined Malaysia, Thailand, China and the Republic of Korea, which had adopted these measures to mitigate the financial crisis. She concluded that the results demonstrate that these measures work.

General Director of the Central Bank of Ecuador, Andres Arauz, spoke about Ecuador’s experience of the financial crisis and domestic measures taken to mitigate the consequences of the crisis. He urged the audience to think about the functioning of the global monetary system and the multilateral agreements in today’s context and that financial commitments should not be taken solely within the GATS universe. He shared the view of scholars and practitioners that the financial crisis is due largely to deregulation. Mr Arauz suggested that policies countries take in relation to the financial crisis must be transparent, that asymmetry is necessary regarding fiscal resources of government money available for these issues, that developing countries do not have “federal reserve advantage” and how exchange rate policy can create distortions in developing countries.

Etienne Vlok, Director of the South African Labour Research Institute, discussed the importance of financial stability for trade unions, how growth of the financial sector in South Africa resulted in growing inequalities and called for a “new space to implement new policies” regarding labour and global trade.