EDITORIAL

Globalization and Interdependence

The General Assembly’s high-level debate in September and, prior to that, the dialogue between the Economic and Social Council and the Executive Secretaries of the Regional Commissions last July on globalization brought repeated reaffirmation that the increasing exposure of countries to global markets, global technology and global ideas have swung open many doors of new opportunities. But, they also brought into sharp focus the sobering fact that access to those doors is not equitable. In fact, globalization has introduced a series of human insecurities, with the weakest generally being the worst victims. The fundamental challenge is: how to redress the imbalance in access and how to make development work for all?

The current economic crisis adds a new -and urgent- dimension to meeting that challenge. Even before the September 11 tragedies, the weaknesses in the global economy were more widespread than in previous downturns, and the economic slowdown in an increasingly globalizing world was proving to be mutually reinforcing among the different segments of the global economy, both developed and developing. Real chances for an economic recovery for the developed countries despite the adverse impacts of the September 11 events are very much appreciated. But, for the developing countries—chafing under an ever-growing debt burden, confronted by a decreasing flow of resources and investments, dwindling trade opportunities and falling commodity prices—the prospects are particularly worrisome.

The ‘open’ economics of Asia, which have not yet recovered from the bruising financial crisis of 1997-98, are more exposed to a world slump than ever before. The same holds for Latin America as well. As for Africa, ravaged by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and internal conflicts, the prospects remain as dim as ever.

In the aftermath of the September 11 atrocities, the significant and synchronized policy initiatives among the developed countries to provide substantial support to the market forces through generating sizeable liquidity, supportive fiscal measures, coordinated reduction in interest rates and other incentives are bringing the much-needed short-term cushion and medium-term opportunities to their economies. It is now essential to provide some similar stimulation to the economies of the developing countries, who are otherwise too weak and too fragile to do anything on their own. How can they survive a recession whose economic and social costs are still unfolding, especially when they have not recovered from the previous one? How can they realistically look at the medium to long-term prospects for development without necessary access to resources for investment and structural arrangement to harness the comparative advantages enjoyed by them. Can the objectives of the Millennium Declaration be achieved in a global economic framework which, for instance, allows for the Governments in the industrialized North to make their farm products competitive by shelling out some $370 billion a year in subsidies—at the expense of the developing countries? Nor is it a comforting thought that the Sub-Saharan Africa pays an equivalent amount proposed for the HIV Fund in just six weeks as debt payments.

The opportunities provided by globalization that have led to greater integration in recent years must be reinforced. Therein lies the critical, even historic significance of the upcoming global processes. The fourth WTO Ministerial Meeting and the International Conference on Financing for Development, together with the World Summit for Sustainable Development, offer the framework for a comprehensive  approach to the needs of all countries and peoples. These major global events can offer the international community the tools for making globalization work. Let us hope that these opportunities will not be missed.