Development, monetary and financial issues are focus of wide-ranging discussions
| Author | Ian S. McDonald |
| Position | Editor-in-Chief IMF Survey |
| Pages | 339-340 |
Page 339
Aprogram of seminars addressing issues on the general theme of making the global economy work for everyone was held in Prague in conjunction with the Annual Meetings. The seminars, organized by the IMF and the World Bank, served as a forum for private sector leaders, government officials, and officials of the international financial institutions to discuss issues related to sustainable development and international monetary and financial relations.
The opening “keystone roundtable” addressed both the opportunities of globalization and the challenges involved in making the global economy work for everyone. Erna Witoelar, Minister for Housing and Regional Infrastructure of Indonesia, cited the impact of the Asian crisis on economic disparities in her country and said these disparities should be eliminated at every level. She called for renewed efforts to develop the productive capacity of poorer countries.
Stanley Fischer, First Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, observed that globalization was not a new phenomenon and that more people had benefited from globalization today than in any previous period of history. This, he said, was because of recent technological advances, especially in communications technology; the popular taste for more goods and more travel; and public policy initiatives. However, he noted that the recent intensification of globalization has also been associated with negative aspects, including income inequalities and environmental degradation, and stressed the necessity of acting to counter these problems.
Globalization has led to an unprecedented community of values in human rights, equality of women, environmental protection, and an unprecedented generation of wealth, according to Olara Otunnu, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. The remaining challenges center on those who have been left out of the process, he said, citing persistent income gaps within countries and between regions and ethnic groups.
Opening a seminar on currency areas, Alexander Swoboda of the IMF Research Department noted that, together with financial integration extending to an ever larger number of countries, the birth of the euro represented a fundamental change in the organization of the international...
To continue reading
Request your trial