World Bank president James Wolfensohn voiced understanding in Dubai Tuesday for the stand taken by developing nations in international trade talks and called for a ”new balance” between rich and poor.
In an opening speech to the World Bank/International Monetary Fund annual meetings in this Gulf emirate, Wolfensohn said the collapse of trade talks in Cancun, Mexico, reflected the ”forces causing imbalance” between the world’s rich and poor.
”The recent impasse in Cancun is a case in point. Two-third of the world’s poor people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. As the developing nations see it, rich nations put forward proposals that did not respond to their central demands in this crucial area,” he said.
”They also found unacceptable a view of negotiations in which they are expected merely to respond to rich-country proposals.
”At Cancun, developing nations signalled their determination to push for a new equilibrium. They signalled that there must be greater balance between the rich and the powerful, and the poor and numerous.
”They signalled that for there to be peace and sustainable development, there must be a set of different priorities. We need a new global equilibrium, a new balance in the relationship between rich and poor nations.”
The conference in Cancun foundered in mid-September on a dispute between developed and developing countries over reductions in farm subsidies and on proposals for the World Trade Organisation to sponsor talks on a global mechanism governing cross-border private investment.
One billion of the world’s six billion population survive on less than $1 a day, while another one billion control 80% of global gross domestic product, said the bank chief to drive his point across.
He said about 50-million people will be added to the population of the rich countries over the next 25 years, while a massive 1,5-billion people will be added to poor countries.
This will bring migration to the forefront of issues facing the world, he added.
”We are linked in so many ways, not only trade and finance, but by migration, environment, disease, drugs, crime, conflict and, yes, terrorism,” said the World Bank chief, stressing the importance of aid from wealthy states.
Wolfensohn said rich countries were spending $56-billion a year on assistance to the poor, compared with $300-billion they spend on agricultural subsidies and $600-billion on defence.
But he also slammed the poor countries for spending a total of $200-billion on defence, ”more than what they spend on education”, urging them to fight corruption, improve governance and spur reforms. — Sapa-AFP