AT UN, CARIBBEAN NATIONS CALL FOR RETHINKING OF GLOBAL FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

AT UN, CARIBBEAN NATIONS CALL FOR RETHINKING OF GLOBAL FINANCIAL STRUCTURE New York, Sep 26 2008 2:10PM The international financial architecture must be revised to advance the development of poorer nations, Caribbean leaders told the annual high-level debate of the General Assembly today.

In the face of skyrocketing food prices which have triggered riots worldwide, countries of the region are "buffeted by the winds of unequal trade liberalization, in which the agricultural subsidies of developed States force our own nascent agro-industries to an uncompetitive demise," Prime Minister Ralph E. Gonsalves of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines <"http://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/stvincent_en.pdf">said.

Improving the plight of the world's poor and hungry can only be achieved by addressing "systemic issues," such as trade barriers, biofuels, climate change and "anemic development assistance," he said.

"The banana farmers of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines continue their heroic struggles to eke out a living in the face of corporate greed, thinly disguised as principled globalization," Mr. Gonsalves said.

"The evidence to date suggests that the international community has inadvertently institutionalized and entrenched poverty within a system of global winners and losers," labelling the Doha development round as a "suicide pact" within the World Trade Organization (WTO), he pointed out.

The Prime Minister lamented the limited progress in meeting the targets set by the 2002 landmark anti-poverty agreement known as the Monterrey Consensus on Financing for Development, which produced "grand, unfilled commitments" to poorer nations.

Developed and developing countries must join hands to implement these "carefully calibrated" initiatives of integrating aid, debt relief, market access, good governance and foreign direct investment," Bruce Golding, Prime Minister of Jamaica, <"http://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/jamaica_en.pdf">said.

"Proceeding with some elements without the others will not achieve the goals we have set," he told the Assembly. "Indeed, it might make it worse."

The Prime Minister also called on wealthier countries to live up to their commitment to contribute 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic product to Official Development Assistance (ODA).

"This is a modest amount. Yet only five countries have to date done so."

Hubert Alexander Ingraham, who serves as Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Bahamas, <"http://www.un.org/ga/63/generaldebate/pdf/bahamas_en.pdf">underscored the need for "effective, permanent representation of developing countries, particularly small developing countries, in international economic, trade and financial organizations," such as the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO.

Further, global tax issues must be discussed in an open forum to address issues crucial to smaller nations, he said.

"It is for this and other important reasons that the Bahamas calls for the convening of a major international conference to review the international financial and monetary architecture and global economic governance structures," Mr. Ingraham said.
2008-09-26 00:00:00.000

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