unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (10/11/89)
development of the world economy and take into account the needs
of developing countries. Japan intended to enhance co-operation
in the fields of monitoring,
observation and research, and to allocate approximately $2.25
billion over the next three years to bilateral and multilateral
projects. Concerning the 1990 special session of the Assembly,
he said a new approach to international economic co-operation
was needed. Traditional arguments based on the North-South
division were no longer valid. Innovation was also needed for
the new international development strategy, which should be
realistic, flexible and focused on selected issues of urgent
concern.
FREDDY CHRISTIANS (Venezuela) said the present Assembly session
was the last in the so-called "lost development decade". Year
after year, the adverse effects of the international economic
situation for the majority of nations had been discussed. There
had been several calls for changes in the international economic
system; however, changes had not taken place. This Assembly
session should be used to analyse that situation. With few
exceptions, the developing countries had become poorer. The
countries of Latin America and Africa would enter the last
decade of this century in perhaps the most difficult
socio-economic situation they had ever faced.
Developing countries were told that economic adjustment would
result in necessary changes that would guarantee sustained
growth, he continued. Further, they were told that internal
adjustments would overcome the negative trends of growth and
development. "That is very far from reality", he said. There
must be external changes, as well; there must be co-ordination
among international economic policies. One group of nations
could not take decisions that would affect the whole world,
without global co-ordination.
Regarding the debt crisis, he said it must be admitted that some
proposals had been put forward. International banks continued,
however, to maintain an inflexible position. On environmental
questions, he said developing countries were taking measures at
the national, regional and international levels, to protect the
environment for future generations. The main responsibility on
that question lay with developed countries, however, because of
their participation in the deterioration of the environment and
because they had the financial and technological resources
needed. He supported the United Nations conference on
environment and development, to be convened in Brazil in 1992.
MUSTAFA AKSIN (Turkey) said the uneven and mixed results obtained
by the developing countries during the 1980s had taught them
useful lessons which should be put to use. Adjustment measures
must continue to reduce rigidity in order to accelerate
innovative and promising policies for promoting growth. However,
adjustment measures had social effects that needed to be
cushioned. Developing countries accustomed to old production
structures had to display courage and adopt new adjustment
policies.
Prime responsibility for the economic situation in each country
remained with that country itself, he went on. Accommodating an
international economic environment, however, was essential to
give sound economic policies a chance. Among the constraints
hindering sustained growth were foreign debt and a lack of
sufficient resource transfers. There was no simple solution to
the debt crisis; despite the hope generated by new approaches of
IMF, the
World Bank and the United States, "we are still waiting for
concrete action". Foreign debt should not overshadow other
factors, such as protectionism, which hindered growth in
developing countries.
Reviewing the issues currently before the Committee, he called
for action against poverty, "the end result of economic
stagnation" caused by structural imbalances and inadequate
growth. Environmental questions should be taken up at two
levels. Issues such as the ozone layer and climate change
required action at the global level, while problems such as
deforestation and toxic wastes were primarily of national
concern. Even those issues called for concerted action by the
international community since environmental degradation affected
every one. The responsibilities of industrialized and
developing countries differed considerably, and more thought must
be given to the question of environmental conditionality
attached to assistance given to the developing countries.
VICTOR G. GARCIA (Philippines) said the proposition that
economic expansion in the North spurred economic improvement in
the South was a fallacy. A few countries in the developing
world had managed to achieve some growth, and the Philippines
economy had grown by 6.8 per cent last year. That growth,
however, often meant only an additional transfer of resources to
service external debt. The heavily indebted developing countries
continued to devote more than one third of their export earnings
to debt service obligations, and the improved trade receipts did
not go towards the improvement of the material conditions of the
people.
The developing countries had restructured their economies and
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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