Without laws, globalization risks demise

  • 2002-12-05
HELSINKI

Globalization in business, trade and finance could end in disaster if it is not accompanied by fair rules, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said Dec. 3.

"Recent events have served to demonstrate the fragility of the global system, both economically and politically. There is a growing demand for improved global governance," Tuomioja said in his opening address at a conference here on globalization.

"The way we managed the world during the era of internationalization was far from perfect. Repeated famines, conflicts and wars bear witness about shortcomings," he said.

"But in the new era, failure in global management could bring about disasters which could threaten the very existence of the civilized world."

The Helsinki Conference on Global Governance has gathered some 200 participants from numerous governments, international organizations and institutions. The Finnish government, which hosts the conference, hopes the meeting will result in a "Helsinki Process on Globalization."

The new process would try to improve multilateral governance and would be similar to the process Finland started during the Cold War that led to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The CSCE and the Helsinki Final Act, signed in 1975 in the Nordic capital, committed the 55 participating countries to respect human rights. It later became part of the agenda of the Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Flemming Larsen, European director for the International Monetary Fund, echoed Tuomioja's statements.

"One has to be either immensely selfish, or incredibly narrow-minded, not to feel concerned about this situation. Whether motivated by ethical considerations or by enlightened self-interest, it has become increasingly urgent to make globalization work for all," Larsen said.

"The challenge we face is to design policies that will permit rapid progress toward reducing the income gap and enhancing financial stability."

At the opening session Dec. 3, Tanzanian Foreign Minister Jakaya Kikwete pointed to contradictory behavior of industrialized countries, which profess to promote free trade, while at the same time subsidizing their own farmers and putting up trade barriers for produce coming from poor countries.

He stressed that the amount the poor countries received in development aid from the industrialized world did not make up for the loss of trade and called for dialogue between the North and South.

Finnish Minister for Development Cooperation Suvi-Anne Siimes agreed.

"The area where we need more dialogue and initiative is how we can make our other policies, like the agricultural policies, trade policies, follow the same targets we have in our development cooperation," she said.

Indian activist Jai Sen accused transnational non-governmental organizations of being elitist, of being composed of middle-class activists and failing to reach and benefit the poor.

"We need to include the voices not heard, like the poor and women in some countries, in our dialogue and on their own terms, not ours. Not because they necessarily have the truth, but because we do not have it either."