PRESS BRIEFING BY USG FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY USG FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today that the special high-level meeting of the General Assembly, which would be held tomorrow and on Friday, was the end-product of a discussion on the renewal of the dialogue on the strengthening of international economic cooperation which had been taking place in the Assembly since the forty-eighth session.

He said that last year in the fifty-second session, the Assembly had decided to convene the two-day meeting, the purpose of which was to have a dialogue. The session was not meant to produce communiques or agreed conclusions or any such product. All that was expected was a report of the meeting in the form of the chairman's summary. According to the format of the meeting, it would begin with a plenary discussion tomorrow, where the Deputy Secretary-General would also speak. He understood that there were over 40 speakers inscribed to speak as well.

In addition to the plenary sessions, there were two other scheduled events, he continued. The first was a pair of ministerial round tables -- one focusing on the national dimension and the other on the international aspect of the social and economic impact of globalization. It was hoped that at those round tables, the real interchange between participating ministers and high officials would take place. In order to further contribute to the dialogue, the second element that had been put in place was two expert panels. One would focus essentially on economic issues with an emphasis on the sustainability of economic growth, while the other, oriented a little more around social dimensions, would address poverty eradication. The schedule was outlined in a media advisory which was also available at the briefing. He told correspondents that the dialogue would end at the session to be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on 18 September, when the rapporteurs of the two ministerial round tables would report on what they felt was the outcome of what had taken place. The Secretary-General would speak at that closing session, as well as the General Assembly President. He said that according to present information, there was a very broad group of ministers expected. Many of them were ministers of economy, trade, and industry. He then cited some of the names of those who would be attending: George Lennkh, Director General, Department for Development Cooperation, Austrian Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs; Ali Alatas, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Indonesia; Montek Singh Ahiuwalia, Minister of State, India; Helmut Schafer, Minister of State, Germany; Alexander Brodsky, Deputy Chairman, National Agency for Development and European Integration, Ukraine; and Brian Atwood, Director of the United States Agency for International Development. While those were just a few of the names expected, he was sure that others would attend since there was no strict obligation "to keep us fully informed about who is coming", he added.

He told correspondents that the round tables and the expert panels would not take place in the Assembly Hall, but in conference room 2 so as to have a format that would encourage more interaction. The first expert panel would take place tomorrow afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., on the sustainability of economic growth. The second, on poverty eradication, would take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Friday. The first ministerial round table would also take place on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the second from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

A correspondent asked for a layman's definition of globalization. Mr. Desai said that the simplest way of talking about globalization was to see it as the growing interaction between countries. In that process, the options for economic and social action in one country were increasingly dependent on what other countries were themselves doing on economic and social issues.

There were, however, other dimensions that could be mentioned with regard to globalization that took place outside governments, he went on to say. He cited the transnationalization of business, communication and culture as examples. The focus over the two-day meeting, however, would be very much on the economic and social dimensions which today were very hot issues because of what was happening in the world economy.

He reminded correspondents that copies of the World Economic and Social Survey 1998 had been made available. This year's publication focused very strongly on the current state of the world economy and sounded a lot of warning bells. It was also hoped that copies of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) Trade and Development Report 1998, which was being released today in Washington D.C., would also be available by tomorrow.

A correspondent noted that in several of his speeches, the Secretary- General had been putting the international community on guard against the marginalization of the developing world in the process of globalization. Was that issue being taken seriously, what would be done about it and would the panels address that question? Mr. Desai said that based on the material that the panels had provided, they were going to focus on that issue. One of themes of one of the panelists was the potential marginalization of developing countries in the rapid spread of new information technologies. Since "this was the United Nations, this was the dimension that would be argued much more forcefully here as opposed to any other forum".

Since no decisions were going to be taken at the end of the "conference", what would actually be achieved? a correspondent wanted to know. Mr. Desai stressed that what was taking place was not a conference, but a dialogue. He hoped that at the present juncture of the world economy, "we can get people to listen to each other and see what the other person's concerns are". That itself would be a very significant achievement.

Desai Press Briefing - 3 - 16 September 1998

A correspondent noted that "as so often happens here, this could be a dialogue of the death between the North and the South". Mr. Desai said that he hoped that would not be the case. He added that whenever "we have tried this sort of thing in the past", people had gone away with some of their perceptions modified and changed, and some opinions shaken up a little. That was the purpose. A two-day meeting such as the one scheduled could not negotiate on globalization. That would be unrealistic.

He believed the strength of the United Nations lay in its capacity to provide communication and a voice for opinions which otherwise did not have loud voices elsewhere. That was what he hoped would be achieved in addition to the integration of the economic and social. Issues of economic crisis should not be looked at simply as a matter of managing the global financial system, but as a much broader issue of development.

A correspondent asked if a discussion focused on the effects of globalization on the individual peoples of a country could be expected. Mr. Desai said he was sure that would take place, particularly in today's context. He was expecting a lot of the participants and ministers to raise the question of the impact of globalization on the lives of people and also the disruptions caused by the process on the lives of people.

Replying to a question on the consideration of the poverty eradication issue, he said poverty eradication was not a stand-alone discussion but something that should be addressed in the context of globalization. The questions were more: "does globalization increase or decrease the options open to countries to address this problem?"; "what has been the impact of globalization on this issue?"; "what is the impact of the recent disruptions on poverty related issues?". What was therefore being projected was a more focused discussion of poverty eradication within the context of globalization, interaction between countries and the growing sense that an individual country did not have as much room for manoeuvre as it did earlier.

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