The Hindu | By Amit Baruah
JAKARTA, MAY 28. India today said that transnational corporations, rather than countries, had reaped the benefits of the globalisation process.
Addressing the 22nd meeting of G-15 Foreign Ministers, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. U. Krishnam Raju, said the income gap between the rich and poor nations had only widened.
"There are no win-win perspectives in globalisation as some in the developed countries would have us believe. Sustained reductions in global poverty require stronger growth ...," Mr. Raju said.
The Minister said a 'cat scan' of globalisation revealed a "multi-dimensional image driven not only by market forces, but also by attempts to oppose cultural diversity, by factors such as global warming, the spread of diseases including HIV/AIDS, and the rise of terrorism, cyber crime, and transnational crime."
The explosion of international movement of private capital and the nature of some capital flows raise questions on whether these are consistent with the evolving consensus on development, and appropriate to the needs of developing countries, Mr. Raju said. "At the same time, there had been a downward trend in ODA (Overseas Development Assistance)."
"The financial crisis that affected many countries among us four years go demonstrated that we have to understand the costs and benefits involved in the utilisation of foreign capital ... our role in international economic governance must increase if our interests are to be adequately safeguarded. The G-15 must, more than ever before, help build consensus on issues that arise out of the globalisation debate."
Speaking at the Sixth Meeting of G-15 Trade and Commerce Ministers yesterday, the Commerce Secretary, Mr. Prabir Sengupta, said the launch of a new round of global trade negotiations should be discussed only after there was a full convergence of views amongst the entire World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership.
Such a convergence, Mr. Sengupta argued, could come about only if 'implementation issues' (arising out of the implementation of the Uruguay round of trade talks) are resolved up-front and satisfactorily and contentious non-trade issues are kept off the table.
"(The WTO) Ministerial Conference is mandated to be held once in every two years and we fully support the convening of the next (fourth) WTO Ministerial Conference at Doha, which should basically review the progress of resolution of the implementation-related concerns, give policy direction for the ongoing mandate negotiations and mandated reviews and take up other stock-taking and reviews ...," Mr. Sengupta said.
"The resolution of the implementation-related concerns of the developing countries should be done by the WTO membership up-front without in any way linking it with the launch of any new or comprehensive round of negotiations as these concerns are a hangover of the past Uruguay round of negotiations for which the developing countries have already paid by taking several onerous obligations," the Commerce Secretary said.
'Remove inequities'
"However, the General Council process that was set in motion to address these concerns has not given any satisfaction even after a year ... a number of countries who are represented (in the G-15) ... share these perceptions and we need to work on this front so that the inequities are removed."The Hindu:
