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G77 Summit Condemns IMF, World Bank Policy
WASHINGTON Islam Online)-The Group of 77, an organization of underdeveloped countries that represents about 80 percent of the world's population, ended its summit in Havana over the weekend and has vehemently criticized the IMF and World Bank policies towards developing nations.
Leaders of those countries said they are the victims of an unfair economic order, strapped by debt, cut off from the technology boom and tied to a global economy that is dragging them down. They also sided squarely with the thousands of protesters expected to storm Washington this week. The gathering unanimously expressed its support for an end to the U.S. embargo of Cuba. The G77 was formed in 1964 by a group of underdeveloped countries. Its goal is to help these countries develop more rapidly and alleviate poverty. During the summit here, the group – which now has 133 member states – complained that global economic policies dictated by the rich northern countries have locked them into a cycle of poverty from which they cannot escape. The summit was attended by about 40 heads of state, and reflected a strong sense that the G-77 had to work together to force change. South African President Thabo Mbeki said at the summit: "We believe consciousness is rising, including in the north, about the inequality and insecurity globalization has brought ... about the plight of the poor countries." While citing the Vatican's campaign to reduce foreign debt, the conflicts at the WTO's meeting in Seattle last year and the planned demonstrations in Washington are evidence of "a changing atmosphere which a more coherent Third World voice can take advantage of." Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was one of few leaders who mentioned the ongoing Elian Gonzales saga during the summit, saying the child should be returned to Cuba "with the man who gave him life." Other members informally expressed their support for the child's return to Cuba. Cuban President Fidel Castro was silent on the matter during official summit meetings, which suggests that he wants to continue laying blame for the affair on what he calls the "Miami mafia" of Cuban exiles, rather than on the U.S. government, which supports the boy's return to his father. Castro's reticence did not extend to the deep philosophical and economic differences that divide the world's rich and poor countries in general, and Cuba and the U.S. in particular. He called the gap between the north and south a "new apartheid." In a speech closing the meeting, he said, "The current economic order, imposed by the rich countries, is not only cruel, unjust and inhuman ... but also carries a racist view of the world which inspired the Nazi Holocaust and concentration camps."
"It is indeed time to recover our fighting spirit. No doubt that from here we go forward, determined to make a difference,” said Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and G77 chairman. The demonstrators in Washington might not agree with all of the pronouncements made at the summit, but many statements would resonate with them, particularly those aimed at the World Bank, IMF and WTO. The three organizations are financial powerhouses, funded mostly by rich northern nations that act as the world's chief lending institutions and trade organizations. To access their money, developing countries often are forced to implement painful political and economic reforms to more closely conform to Western-style democracy and free-market economics. In the summit's final declaration, the countries called for a greater voice in global economic decisions, increased aid and exports to underdeveloped nations, greater technology transfers, and the cancellation of unsustainable debt that is forcing many countries to pay more in interest than for social services.
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