Title: DEVELOPMENT: Will the UN Summit Reduce Poverty and Create Jobs?

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 6 (IPS) - The opening Wednesday of a summit
meeting at the United Nations, described as the largest gathering
of world leaders, was dominated by a litany of complaints by the
world's poorer nations.

Speaker after speaker voiced serious concern over the rising gap
between rich and poor, the marginalisation of Africa and the
failure of the international community to meet its commitments to
the world's poorer nations.

Setting the political tone for the summit, Guyanese President
Bharrat Jagdeo said that when he returns home, his people will be
sure to ask: "What good has this summit brought us? Will it serve
to reduce poverty and create jobs? Will it help our country bridge
the development and digital divides?".

"I would like to be able to respond positively to these concerns
and to assure them that the new millennium will bring them both
peace and prosperity," he told the more than 150 heads of state
and heads of government present at the opening of the Millennium
Summit Wednesday.

But Jagdeo was not harbouring any illusions of instant redemption.
"I know, however, that the hopes and promises of this event will
only be realised if there is strong and shared determination by
all states to create a new global human order that is free from
fear and free from want," he added.

The three-day summit, which is scheduled to conclude Friday, will
adopt an historic Millennium Declaration projecting a global
vision for the 21st century.

President Sam Nujoma of Namibia said "the glaring disparity
between the North and the South is the most burning issue of the
times."

The United Nations, he said, has a critical role to play in
narrowing that disparity. "That is the fundamental question which
the Millennium Summit is called upon to address," he added.

Lester Bird, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, blasted the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the world's
industrial nations for the economic injustices meted out to the
poor.

"Is it not a woeful indictment that although 25 countries were
identified by the IMF and the World Bank to benefit by the end of
the year 2000 under a much vaunted Highly Indebted Poor Countries
(HIPC) Initiative, not one has yet received an actual cash draw
down?" he said.

The world's economic and political agenda, he pointed out, is now
devised by a few of its most powerful governments. The Group of
Seven - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada
and Japan - has "arrogated to itself not only the role of the
world's decision-maker, but also of its enforcer," he added

"And, it appears that in arrogating this role to themselves, the
members of the Group of Seven have been motivated by narrow,
national political concerns at the expense of the wider interests
of global economic growth and international political stability,"
Bird said.

Even the United Nations - "the repository of mankind's highest
aspirations" - has become marginalised by the dictates of a few,
he added.

Colombian President Andres Pastrana said that in an increasingly
globalised world, trade and finance cannot afford to lose sight of
man and his needs. "In Latin America and the Caribbean, there are
more than 200 million poor who hope to share the benefits of
progress. And we cannot leave them behind," he said.

"What we seek is growth and social equity. For this, we need
international co-operation to finance the networks of social
protection and investment in human capital and infrastructure," he
said.

"We need to increase the flow of international trade, and put an
end to the protectionist measures of the wealthier and more
developed countries. We need a just and lasting solution to the
problem of foreign debt in our economies," he noted.

Chinese President Jian Zemin said the gaps between North and
South, and between rich and poor, are widening. The developed
countries, he said, possess 86 percent of the world's gross
domestic product (GDP) and account for 82 percent of the world's
export markets, while the developing nations, which account for
the overwhelming majority of the world's population, possess only
14 percent of GDP and 18 percent of the export markets.

If there is no fundamental change in such a situation, he warned,
it would be difficult to avoid turbulence in the international
community, promote economic development for all countries or
achieve worldwide prosperity.

Shifting the focus to Africa, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi
complained that the first few months of the new millennium have
not been kind to Africa. "We have suffered from severe and extreme
weather conditions. In my own country, we have had to face the
worst drought since independence," he said.

The African continent, he said, is also faced with other man-made
disasters: civil wars and endless conflicts that have destroyed
years of painstaking development. "But the overall international
reaction is inevitably an eroding confidence in Africa. And, this
in turn, leads to a cutback in foreign investment which is already
at pitifully low levels," he added.

Perhaps the strongest case for Africa was made not by an African
head of state but by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"There is a dismal record of failure in Africa on the part of the
developed world that shocks and shames our civilisation," he said.

Twenty-one of the 44 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are affected
by conflict which undermines efforts at development, he said. But
even worse, 10 times as many people died of AIDS in Africa last
year as were killed in all the continent's wars combined.

"Nowhere are more people dying needlessly from starvation, from
disease, from conflict. Deaths caused not by acts of fate, but by
acts of man. By bad governance, factional rivalries, state-
sponsored theft and corruption," he added.

Yet, 30 years ago, the same depressing analysis might have been
made of parts of Asia and Latin America, Blair argued. "There can
be change. There can be hope for Africa. There is political
leadership, business opportunity and above all, the will on behalf
of people for a better future in Africa. We must be partners in
the search for change and hope," he added.

"We should use this unique summit for a concrete purpose: to start
the process of agreeing a way forward for Africa," Blair added.
(END/IPS/DV/IP/td/da/00)


Origin: SJAAMEX/DEVELOPMENT/
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       [c] 2000, InterPress Third World News Agency (IPS)

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