WB chief urges 'new multilateralism' amid financial crisis
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
WASHINGTON, Oct 7 (AFP): World Bank president Robert Zoellick said yesterday that the current financial turmoil highlighted the need for a "new multilateralism" to replace outdated structures.
Describing the financial turmoil of this year as a "wake-up call," Zoellick said the world needed to look beyond resolving the current crisis to the underlying role of multilateral institutions.
"We will need a new multilateral network for a new global economy," Zoellick said in a speech ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank this weekend in Washington.
He also urged reform of the IMF and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Zoellick said the IMF's early warning system for the global economy should be strengthened, "focused on crisis prevention and not just crisis resolution."
The head of the 185-nation development lender said that economic multilateralism must be redefined beyond a traditional focus on finance and trade.
"Today, energy, climate change, and stabilising fragile and post-conflict states are economic issues," he said in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank.
"They are already part of the international security and environmental dialogue. They must be the concern of economic multilateralism as well."
Multilateral structures, based on mid-20th century models, have not kept pace with the changes wrought by today's globalisation and markets, he said.
Zoellick suggested that the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies should be turned into a steering group that includes rising economies.
Such a group would represent 56 per cent of the world's population and 70 per cent of global economic output, he noted.
Zoellick comments came ahead of Friday's meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States in Washington.
In sharp criticism of the G7, Zoellick said it had lost it valuable role coordinating policy in recent decades.
For the WTO, whose Doha Round of international trade talks has virtually collapsed, Zoellick suggested a shift from negotiations to a development plan.
Describing the financial turmoil of this year as a "wake-up call," Zoellick said the world needed to look beyond resolving the current crisis to the underlying role of multilateral institutions.
"We will need a new multilateral network for a new global economy," Zoellick said in a speech ahead of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank this weekend in Washington.
He also urged reform of the IMF and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Zoellick said the IMF's early warning system for the global economy should be strengthened, "focused on crisis prevention and not just crisis resolution."
The head of the 185-nation development lender said that economic multilateralism must be redefined beyond a traditional focus on finance and trade.
"Today, energy, climate change, and stabilising fragile and post-conflict states are economic issues," he said in a speech to the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington think tank.
"They are already part of the international security and environmental dialogue. They must be the concern of economic multilateralism as well."
Multilateral structures, based on mid-20th century models, have not kept pace with the changes wrought by today's globalisation and markets, he said.
Zoellick suggested that the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies should be turned into a steering group that includes rising economies.
Such a group would represent 56 per cent of the world's population and 70 per cent of global economic output, he noted.
Zoellick comments came ahead of Friday's meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bank governors of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States in Washington.
In sharp criticism of the G7, Zoellick said it had lost it valuable role coordinating policy in recent decades.
For the WTO, whose Doha Round of international trade talks has virtually collapsed, Zoellick suggested a shift from negotiations to a development plan.