OPENING UNCTAD X IN BANGKOK, THAI PRIME MINISTER URGES "NEW HEALING PROCESS" FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR DEVELOPMENT

Press Release
TAD/1903

OPENING UNCTAD X IN BANGKOK, THAI PRIME MINISTER URGES ‘NEW HEALING PROCESS’ FOR COLLECTIVE ACTION FOR DEVELOPMENT

United Nations Secretary-General Declares Main Losers in Today’s Unequal World Are Not Victims of Globalization, but Those Left Out of Process

(Received from UN Information Officer.)

BANGKOK, 12 February -- Globalization was not an enemy of development, United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, told the Tenth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD X), at its inaugural ceremony held in Bangkok today. The main losers today were not the victims of globalization but those left out of the process.

Recovery from the recent financial crisis was export led, Mr. Annan continued. The link between trade and development was indissoluble. He proposed that the conference focus on the responsibility of developing countries and their leaders in those processes. Ways must be found to ensure that the benefits of development reach all countries and all people.

Opening UNCTAD, the Prime Minister of Thailand, Chuan Leekpai, said the Conference was the international community’s first opportunity to assess what was lacking in the present international trade and financial system, which had yet to provide prosperity or economic security for all.

The policy and institutional framework of global trade and finance must be objectively reviewed from the perspective of development, rather than commercial gain, he added. Past initiatives and strategies must be examined with a view to redressing existing imbalances and to make better plans for a better future. To accomplish that objective, UNCTAD must be an all-inclusive forum.

Through constructive dialogue and friendly persuasion, Mr. Leekpai said, UNCTAD X might start a healing process that could narrow divisions preventing the international community from taking meaningful, collective action on development. “We should aim for a new Global Compact for Development –- one based on justice, equity and international cooperation”, he urged, adding that UNCTAD must provide the moral and ethical leadership for that endeavour.

UNCTAD X, which opened today and will run until 19 February, is the first major global conference of the new millenium. It aims to approve a programme of action, applying lessons learned to make globalization an instrument for development for all countries and people. UNCTAD’s engagement in that process will also be defined. Running in tandem with the intergovernmental forum will be a series of round-tables, symposiums and meetings on issues that are significant to development and trade.

The first formal session of UNCTAD X begins at 6:30 p.m. today, when the Conference will be addressed by Presidents of Indonesia and the Philippines and the Prime Ministers of Malaysia, Singapore and Japan. Also scheduled to address the Conference are UNCTAD Secretary-General Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD X President- designate Supachai Panitchpakdi (Thailand), and UNCTAD IX President Alec Erwin (South Africa).

Statement by Thai Prime Minister

In his address to the Conference, Mr. LEEKPAI, Prime Minister of Thailand, declared that the timing of UNCTAD X was symbolically important since participants would be given an opportunity to exchange views on how a common vision of development for the new millenium could be forged in the face of globalization’s challenge. Undeniably, the negative effects of the process -– together with the international community’s own weaknesses –- had led to a severe and far-reaching crisis in the Asian region. Although the worst was now over, it must be said that the reforms that had to be undertaken were not easy.

Thailand, he said, had benefitted greatly from the wisdom and guidance of His Majesty the King of Thailand, whose concept of a “Sufficiency Economy” had helped to cushion the country from a volatile global economy.

In emerging from the crisis, Thailand was attempting to put the lessons that it has learned to good use. Thailand hoped that UNCTAD X would help all nations to understand those lessons even better for the benefit of all countries. UNCTAD X provided the first opportunity to assess what was lacking in the present international trade and financial system which had yet to provide common prosperity and economic security for all. The policy and institutional framework of global trade and finance must objectively be reviewed, not from the perspective of commercial gain, but from that of development. Stock must also be taken of past initiatives and strategies to redress existing imbalances and to plan for a better future.

To accomplish this objective, UNCTAD must be an all-inclusive forum, he stated. Through constructive dialogue and friendly persuasion, UNCTAD X might be the beginning of a new healing process that could help narrow divisions that had prevented the international community from taking meaningful, collective action in the interest of development. A new Global Compact for Development must take shape -– one based on justice, equity, and international cooperation. In this endeavour, UNCTAD must provide the moral and ethical leadership.

The larger part of the world was represented here today in Bangkok. These countries must be reassured that “we will take the right path, avoid the mistakes of the past and lead them to a brighter future”.

Statement by UN Secretary-General

United Nations Secretary-General KOFI ANNAN declared that Thailand was an appropriate place to hold UNCTAD X as the last financial crisis of last millenium began with the devaluation of the Thai baht. For about a year it seemed that East Asia would be a harbinger of instability and impoverishment, rather than the trail-blazing success it had been previously. Those fears were excessive and the world economy was now growing, with South-East Asian countries leading the recovery.

Once again the recovery is export led, he stated. Trade and development were indissoluably linked, as the title of the Conference implied.

Less than three months ago, he recalled, many UNCTAD X attendees were at the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Seattle, where a new round of trade negotiations -– the “development” round -– was expected to deliver the benefits of freer trade to developing countries. It was believed that in Seattle, this round was not launched because the peoples of the world had joined together to defend their right to be different. In truth, it failed because governments, notably those of the world’s economic Powers, could not agree on priorities. Developing countries were active and united, but many industrialized countries lacked the political strength to confront those who relied on protectionism, and people did not understand that all could share and benefit from a global market.

Protests in Seattle, the United Nations Secretary-General continued, reflected the anxieties of many about globalization’s effect on employment, labour standards, environment, public health, human rights and cultural diversity. Governments and the private sector must address such anxieties, both nationally and internationally. Universally agreed values and standards existed, but States must live up to their obligations. Development really meant advances in these areas of concern. A developed country is one that allowed its people to enjoy a healthy life in a safe environment. And a developing country was one where civil society could demand material well-being and improved human rights and environmental protection.

Globalization was surely not an enemy of development, he declared. Like any historic change in human society, there were casualties. Those who benefited most had both an obligation and an interest in looking after the casualties, or they risked a backlash that could wipe out the gains.

However, the main losers in today’s unequal world were not the victims of globalization but those left out of the process. How and why the world’s poorest societies and people were excluded should be the concern of UNCTAD X. In part exclusion occurred because development was held back by industrialized countries’ trade barriers; however, these hardly needed to be condemned at UNCTAD X, where they were well known. The international community might be better served if UNCTAD X looked at the responsibilities of developing countries, and particularly their leaders.

UNCTAD X could seek to discover how more countries could be assured export-led recoveries, and how trade could be made to work for the poor in those countries. It might wish to consider how all countries and people could benefit from private investment growth and how they could borrow at affordable rates. Some external obstacles to private capital flows were impossible for States to overcome, but perhaps overseas development assistance could be used to subsidize risk premiums in those cases.

How technologies could be made more widely available could be considered, the Secretary-General continued, including what conditions made a difference, and which of those States could provide it. UNCTAD X might find it useful to consider means by which developing countries could benefit from patented advances in technology and medicine without reducing the incentives of those in industrialized countries who made the advances.

The Conference, he went on, might usefully consider whether there was a role for external assistance in helping small-scale entrepreneurs deal in international markets. New partnerships for development reaching beyond intergovernmental cooperation, such as the Global Compact between business and the United Nations,could be discussed. Ways to ensure that developing countries were heard in discussions of international trade rules could be discussed, and here too, there might be a bigger role for civil society and business.

Finally, UNCTAD X could ask how least developed countries could join in world growth. Perhaps the time was ripe for a Global New Deal, whereby benefits could be guaranteed to countries that stuck to an agreed mix of policies, designed to favour investment and ensure that benefits were shared by the entire population.

Whatever the details of UNCTAD X deliberations, the overriding goal of enabling all people to participate in the new global economy and enjoy its benefits should be borne in mind, the Secretary-General declared. Common standards, defined and enforced by States working with multilateral organizations, and above all rooted in shared values, were needed. It was common values that held every community –- be it local, national or international -- together.

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