UN Wire
In a weeklong debate of the UN General Assembly Economic and Financial Committee, developing countries repeatedly slammed the current international economic system, charging that it maintains widespread poverty and debt.
Speaking at the conclusion of the committee meetings yesterday, Angolan representative Margarida Rosa da Silva Izata called for a complete restructuring of the international financial architecture, echoing the complaints of many developing countries that rich and poor countries cannot compete in the current system. She charged that it is "utopian" to believe that the current system does not exclude developing countries from meaningful participation in the global economy, as tariff barriers reduce their resources.
Jordanian representative Walid al-Hadid called for reform of the international monetary system, including the cancellation or reduction of developing countries' debt. He added that developed countries should also transfer more technology to developing countries as well as open their markets to imports of agricultural and textile products from them.
Many representatives focused their critiques of the international economic system on its inability to deal effectively with poverty in Africa. The Sudanese representative, Mubarak Hussein Rahmtalla, said it would be morally unacceptable to not meet the continent's challenges, and urged strengthening of the UN as a development institution as the best way to meet those challenges. These include large investments in basic education and health care, food security, an environmental policy based on sustainable development and stronger civil society, he said. Singapore's representative, Tan Yee Woan, avoided bashing the global trade system, claiming that developing countries do not want to end globalization, but rather to be fully integrated into it. The representative added that the best way to achieve that integration is through development assistance and free trade, eschewing any efforts to link free trade to idealistic environmental and labor standards (UN release, 5 Oct).
The committee concluded its general debate yesterday. Earlier statements included a presentation from the Russian representative, who compared globalization to a rolling train that can only be boarded at a certain platform at certain times. He called on the UN to help developing countries build more such platforms as soon as possible (UN release, 2 Oct). Also, Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, warned that incomplete and disparate globalization can lead to a backlash among countries that are vulnerable to being marginalized by globalization (UN release, 3 Oct).:
