SECRETARY-GENERAL APPLAUDS SEARCH FOR 'REGIONAL SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES' IN MESSAGE TO REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION CONFERENCE
Press Release
SG/SM/6817
SECRETARY-GENERAL APPLAUDS SEARCH FOR 'REGIONAL SOLUTIONS TO GLOBAL CHALLENGES' IN MESSAGE TO REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION CONFERENCE
19981202 Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, delivered on his behalf by the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Adrianus Mooy to the "Group of 77" developing countries' High-level Conference on Subregional and Regional Economic Cooperation held in Bali, Indonesia from 2 to 5 December:I congratulate the Government of Indonesia and the Group of 77 for organizing this important meeting on subregional and regional economic cooperation, which is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
It is up to developing countries themselves to create an economic environment which attracts investment, and in other ways enables them to seize their opportunities. I hope your deliberations will lead to the removal of the internal obstacles which still prevent too many of them from playing their full part in the global economy. If developing countries are to live up to their name, it is vital that they cooperate more effectively with each other, as well as with industrialized States. They need to work together to avoid losing whatever gains they have made in the 1990s. South-South cooperation provides them with a framework in which they can share experience and lessons learned over the past two decades.
Indonesia is an ideal venue for this meeting, not least because it has bitter first-hand experience of the social and economic hardships that follow when we fail to take collective action to prevent financial crises, or to ensure speedy recovery and sustained growth when they do occur. Indonesians are learning from the example of other countries in the region, but are also themselves showing great resilience and resourcefulness, from which others can learn.
The growing integration of global capital markets, the changes in the volume and composition of international financial flows, the increased diversity and number of international actors -- all these underscore the need for sound global governance. That is why we are doing our best to strengthen the United Nations' capacity to provide global leadership, in areas where no State has the capacity or the mandate to lead on its own. But global
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institutions cannot be effective without the support of regional, subregional and national mechanisms. At those levels, you can follow events on the ground, manage crises promptly when they occur, and share the best practices achieved in banking regulation and supervision, as well as arrangements for gathering and disseminating information. Therefore, I applaud the Group of 77 for seeking regional solutions to global challenges.
I wish you every success in your deliberations.
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