Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday strongly advocated for reforming the voting and decision-making process in the Bretton Woods institutions (World Bank and International Monetary Fund) to ensure equitable voice of the vulnerable and developing countries.
Imbalance that needs to be corrected is in the voting and decision making in the Bretton Woods institutions to ensure equitable voice of the vulnerable and developing countries, she said while delivering her speech at the 13th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) held at Qatar National Convention Centre here.
Hasina said that similarly, any new process like the G-20 should have defined the way of consultations with the LDCs.
She said consultations would have to be made with the LDCs on deregulation of the financial sector against technical barriers to trade to ensure control, limited state role before crises, extensive state obligation after market fall, limited roles of states in trade and investment, and greater State responsibilities on human development and security.
The Prime Minister said that the present economic and financial governance requires wide-ranging reforms to find out any solution.
As we try to find solutions, we must accept the fact that the present economic and financial governance requires wide ranging reforms. Any reform cannot but be inclusive. We have to have faith in the ability of the multilateral processes to deliver.
She observed that this would surely require a strong political will to rise above narrow mindsets, and to make hard political choices, for the good of all in the globalised world.
Hasina said that the UNCTAD XIII conference is being held at a time when excessive risk taking and financialization of commodity markets have caused worldwide multiple crises, including jobs lost in millions, increase in poverty and inequality among peoples posing serious challenges to all countries, particularly in the developing ones.
We see imbalances among agriculture and non-agriculture, financial and non-financial sectors, and rural and urban, private and public sectors, the rich and the poor, and the developed and the developing countries.
In Bangladesh, she said: We have not benefited from the global commodity price-rise. We have rather faced difficulties due to global energy price escalation, inflationary pressure on domestic production and cost of food, commodities and goods.’’
These and the impacts of climate change have drawn our scarce resources from the much needed infrastructure and social projects. Restrained development aid and FDI inflows have not helped much either.
The Prime Minister said that though some developing countries have had success due to global integration, many including the LDCs were not fortunate despite their resolve in Marrakesh in 1995 and in Doha a decade ago, to open markets, make trade inclusive, and promote developmental goals.
Instead we see imposition of various trade restrictions and implicit protectionism. We must accept that a fair, inclusive and equitable trade regime with flexibilities for LDCs is the best for all to face together the adverse impacts of global economic slowdown.
She indicated that trade liberalization must facilitate flow of resources and technology, creation of jobs and skills, enhancing productivity, and full duty-free and quota-free access to LDCs in the markets of all developed countries in a progressive and time-bound manner as per commitment made in Hong Kong, seven years ago.
Hasina said the LDCs also need debt cancellation, debt relief and ODA as promised by developed countries, help developing productive capacities and aid separate from the ODA for climate change adaptation and mitigation.
LDCs, for technology deficit, need extension of the transition period under the TRIPS Agreement beyond 2013; and pharmaceutical patents beyond 2016 to ensure access to affordable medicine, she said.
She added: We also expect the WTO to focus discussion at the Committee on Trade and Development, inter-alia, setting up of an effective mechanism for monitoring of special and differential provisions.
The Prime Minister noted that the LDCs, besides the ODA, need FDI to bridge their resource gap. Sadly, FDI has been slow and concentrated mostly in extractive and commodity sectors. LDCs need FDI in the productive sectors. We need investment in agriculture infrastructure, research and capacity building,” she said.
Mentioning contract manufacturing and farming, outsourcing, licensing, franchising etc. have emerged as new modes of FDI, she said these FDIs, due to their seasonality and transitory nature, bears risks and instability, and calls for expert management.
Hasina said: To check food price volatility, a comprehensive global response is needed that may include discouraging export ban on food and inputs, and stockholding to meet humanitarian food emergencies, among others.
About the climate change issue, she said Bangladesh suffers the most without contributing to the causes of global warming. This is an outright injustice and needs to be redressed.Indeed, on global warming, we need a collective response based on equity with focus on historical and current responsibility, per capita green house gas emission, respective capabilities, development requirements, extent of vulnerability etc, she added
His statement came after a Bangladesh High Court issued a
stay order on the country s tour to Pakistan that led to the
postponement of the tour due to security reasons, The Dawn reports.
