Reorder globalisation to make it inclusive, policymakers suggest
Saturday, 1 November 2008
FE Report
The current global financial crisis has exposed a deeper fault-line in the international system while the benefits of globalisation are sparsely distributed, leaving behind the world's neediest, policymakers and trade envoys said Friday.
Poorer nations should be given more space in global trade talks and globalisation must be more inclusive, they said while addressing an international conference in the city.
The conference, opened on the day, on "Next Fifteen Years - A Vision of Growth" coincides with the 50th founding anniversary of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI).
The conference session was moderated by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, permanent representative of Bangladesh to UN mission in Geneva.
Speaking at a plenary, UNCTAD secretary general Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi criticised the United States for its irresponsible financial behaviour that slid the global economy into the precipice of recession.
"The world is now seeing how the 'financial irresponsibility' of one country can devastate the economic prospects of others,".
"It was the collapse of American mortgage market that eventually led to the global financial meltdown."
Referring to the global economic Tsunami emanating from the US credit crunch and subprime crisis, skyrocketing oil, food and commodity prices, the UN official said those elements exposed the weakness of the international system.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the US financial crisis cost the economy a whopping US$1.3 trillion.
As the recessionary fear deepens, Mr Panitchpakdi said, efforts should focus on the pre-empting effect on the real economy through fiscal expansion and international capital adequacy framework.
Finance adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, who was a panelist at the discussion, said the world needed a new kind of globalisation.
"With this crisis, I believe, this is not the end of globalisation. But the process will be modified. It will probably be more inclusive."
This week's upsurge in the American and European stock markets made the finance adviser optimistic about the global economy, saying the crisis would not deepen further.
Sri Lankan export development and international trade minister GL Teiris said that South Asia 's greatest strength lies in its skilled human resources.
He said that the regional governments need to intervene in certain sectors, thus strengthening the role of the state to ensure social security.
Harshbardhan Singh, deputy director general of WTO, said that strengthening voices of poorer nations and their active leadership role in the global trading regime would make the ongoing trade negotiations more balanced, not skewed toward richer countries.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Bhattacharya said it is imperative that the world drifts toward a "more participatory and balanced" globalisation, while revisiting the public policy framework.
More than 200 foreign delegates and business leaders from across the world are taking part in the two-day conference.
The current global financial crisis has exposed a deeper fault-line in the international system while the benefits of globalisation are sparsely distributed, leaving behind the world's neediest, policymakers and trade envoys said Friday.
Poorer nations should be given more space in global trade talks and globalisation must be more inclusive, they said while addressing an international conference in the city.
The conference, opened on the day, on "Next Fifteen Years - A Vision of Growth" coincides with the 50th founding anniversary of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DCCI).
The conference session was moderated by Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, permanent representative of Bangladesh to UN mission in Geneva.
Speaking at a plenary, UNCTAD secretary general Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi criticised the United States for its irresponsible financial behaviour that slid the global economy into the precipice of recession.
"The world is now seeing how the 'financial irresponsibility' of one country can devastate the economic prospects of others,".
"It was the collapse of American mortgage market that eventually led to the global financial meltdown."
Referring to the global economic Tsunami emanating from the US credit crunch and subprime crisis, skyrocketing oil, food and commodity prices, the UN official said those elements exposed the weakness of the international system.
According to the International Monetary Fund, the US financial crisis cost the economy a whopping US$1.3 trillion.
As the recessionary fear deepens, Mr Panitchpakdi said, efforts should focus on the pre-empting effect on the real economy through fiscal expansion and international capital adequacy framework.
Finance adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam, who was a panelist at the discussion, said the world needed a new kind of globalisation.
"With this crisis, I believe, this is not the end of globalisation. But the process will be modified. It will probably be more inclusive."
This week's upsurge in the American and European stock markets made the finance adviser optimistic about the global economy, saying the crisis would not deepen further.
Sri Lankan export development and international trade minister GL Teiris said that South Asia 's greatest strength lies in its skilled human resources.
He said that the regional governments need to intervene in certain sectors, thus strengthening the role of the state to ensure social security.
Harshbardhan Singh, deputy director general of WTO, said that strengthening voices of poorer nations and their active leadership role in the global trading regime would make the ongoing trade negotiations more balanced, not skewed toward richer countries.
In his concluding remarks, Dr. Bhattacharya said it is imperative that the world drifts toward a "more participatory and balanced" globalisation, while revisiting the public policy framework.
More than 200 foreign delegates and business leaders from across the world are taking part in the two-day conference.