Annan says 'globalization' best hope to cure worlds problems

Globalization ‘best hope’ to cure world’s problems, Annan tells World Economic Forum

“The perception, among many, is that this is the fault of globalization, and that globalization is driven by a global elite, composed of – or at least, represented by – the people who attend this gathering,” the Secretary-General said in an address on the final day of the Forum, which brings together political and business leaders to examine world economic growth and social progress.

“I believe that perception is wrong,” Mr. Annan said. “But it is up to you to prove it wrong, with actions that translate into concrete results for the downtrodden, exploited and excluded…You must show that economics, properly applied, and profits, wisely invested, can bring social benefits within reach not only for the few but for the many, and eventually for all.”

The Secretary-General noted that increasingly, business leaders were recognizing that there were many small and poor countries in which they did not invest enough – not because these countries were badly governed or have unfriendly policies, but simply because they were too small and poor to be interesting markets or to become major producers, and because they lacked the skills, infrastructure and institutions that a successful market economy needed.

“The unpleasant truth is that markets put a premium on success, and tend to punish the poor for the very fact that they are poor,” he said, warning that left alone in their poverty, these countries were all too likely to collapse, or relapse, into conflict and anarchy, a menace to their neighbours and potentially – as the events of 11 September so brutally reminded – a threat to global security.

“Yet, taken together, their peoples represent a very large potential market – and many of their disadvantages could be offset if international business and donor governments adopted a common strategy aimed at making them more attractive to investment and ensuring that it reaches them,” he said.

Mr. Annan also urged governments to work in that spirit for the success of the International Conference on Financing for Development next month in Monterrey, Mexico, stressing that there must be real movement forward on four key issues that were of vital importance to all developing countries: trade, aid, debt, and the management of the global economy.

“All these issues can no longer be settled in private conclave among the rich and powerful,” the Secretary-General said. “The developing countries have as a big a stake as anyone in the future of the world economy. Their views should count for something when decisions affecting it are taken.”

Echoing those themes in an opinion piece published in today’s edition of the Financial Times, the Secretary-General wrote that political and business leaders would have the chance to show, by tackling these issues seriously, that they intended to make sure globalization offered the poor a real chance to escape from poverty.

“They can strike a truly decisive blow against the forces of envy, despair and terror by sending out a clear message of solidarity, respect and – above all – hope,” he said

Civil society must work with government, business to solve world's problems - Annan
4 February - The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today encouraged a conference of civil society groups meeting in Brazil to work with, rather than to confront, governments and businesses in finding solutions to the world's problems.
"You in civil society must show that you are ready to work in partnership for change, rather than remain aloof through the politics of confrontation," UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message to the World Social Forum, an annual conference that looks at ways to counteract the negative affects of globalization and which is held at the same time as the World Economic Forum.
"The way forward lies in finding constructive solutions together," said Mr. Annan, whose message was delivered on his behalf in Porto Alegre by Jose Antonio Ocampo, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
The Secretary-General said that two upcoming UN meetings - the International Conference on Financing for Development in March and the World Summit for Sustainable Development in August - were opportunities in which civil society could engage government and business and contribute ideas for mobilizing desperately needed funding for development programmes, dealing with extreme poverty, making trade more balanced and ensuring that economies and societies were "on more durable footing" for the future.
"On all these challenges, the United Nations will depend increasingly on the constructive engagement of civil society," Mr. Annan said. "Our ability to improve the lives of the men and women of this planet will depend on the ability of all sectors of society to move beyond ideology, and work together in the search for pragmatic solutions."
The Secretary-General told the participants of the Porto Alegre conference that in his address today to the World Economic Forum in New York he intended to stress that the UN's one guiding motto in the 21st century "is to put people at the centre of everything we do."
Echoing some of these thoughts, Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in an appeal issued earlier in Porto Alegre that it was within the global community's power to ensure that globalization became a positive force for all the world's people and that an ethical globalization was its best hope for building bridges of respect and understanding between people of different cultures, traditions and walks of life.
"Globalization as an economic process must be subject to the moral and ethical imperatives to which the international human rights instruments give legal expression," Mrs. Robinson said. "Human rights are more than just good ideas or distant goals. Human rights provide a rigorous framework to empower people from around the world to harness the energies of the global movement and shape a new globalisation that benefits all people."

that there must be real movement forward on four key issues that were of vital importance to all developing countries: trade, aid, debt, and the management of the global economy

Thats foreign aid (they want OUR money) debt relief (mostly OUR money) and MANAGEMENT of the Global Economy.

Still think they're talking about free trade??

The best thing that can happen to these "third world countries" is for the United States to remove the Marxist dictators, and colonize those countries.

The next best thing would be for the United States to remove the Marxist dictators, and replace the government with hand-picked men and women from those countries who believe in Freedom and the Rights of Man.

If that's not possible, the United States should remove the Marxist dictators, and drop leaflets of the Constitution, Declraration of Independence, and the Holy Bible (in their language) on their country.

If that's too costly, the United States should just remove the Marxist dictators.

I see a pattern emerging here..... and it doesn't involve some redistributionist scheme conjured up by a bunch of communists at the UN.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.