Camdessus urges major powers to resist siren calls

• Pages: 68

Page 68

In his keynote address, Camdessus noted that the millennium had begun with tremendous challenges and horror, but also with elements of hope--such as the pledges in New York to eradicate poverty and the planting of the seeds of a global partnership in Genoa.He urged the international community to give full support to the Monterrey conference-in the name of partnership, peace, good governance, and development financing.

Partnership. "The name of the game is partnership" between industrial and developing countries, Camdessus said, urging heads of government to get to work on a broad collaborative agenda that would put the needs of the poor on the front burner of world attention. In this context, he took the media to task for devoting undue attention to the "lamentable attitude" of police in Genoa, which kept the public in the dark about a policy statement in which African leaders called for a new, more pragmatic partnership with industrial countries. This extraordinary statement, Camdessus said, constitutes a new way of doing business, reflecting a readiness to embrace prudent fiscal and monetary policies and appropriate exchange rate policies.

Peace. With the successful conclusion of military operations in Afghanistan-post September 11-phase two in the campaign against terrorism for "America and its allies" calls for a coordinated effort to address "violence at its very roots all around the world" in the form of mass poverty and hopelessness. The new phase "will require global solidarity in the broadest possible coalition for development," he maintained.Monterrey provides an ideal venue for discussing the "extraordinary opportunities for constructive change, and we should not miss that opportunity."

Governance. Throughout Africa, Camdessus said, there is a strong...