The eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XI) ended on 18 June with a closing session in a rather good spirit with some useful results for developing countries. The conference adopted a declaration called the Sao Paulo Consensus, which contains analyses of globalisation, trade and development issues, proposes policy responses and spells out the role of UNCTAD. Also adopted was a declaration, the Spirit of Sao Paulo. UNCTAD XI’s most important achievement was the inclusion in the declaration of a section on the need for developing countries to have “policy space”, which has been increasingly eroded by trade agreements and loan conditions. It was the first time a multilateral conference involving North and South had recognized this idea and it will be useful to developing countries’ negotiators when they argue their case in the World Trade Organisation, at the International Monetary Fund and in regional and bilateral trade agreements.