Global Policy Forum

Statement by H.E. Mr. Juan Somavia
President of the Economic and Social Council

This session of the Economic and Social Council comes at a particularly significant moment. The world economy is experiencing some turbulence and there is anxiety about its future course in light of the current crisis in Asia.

This crisis has come to confirm that integration into the global market-place can bring great benefits, but carries with it serious risks if it Is not managed well. The new global economy is not a force of nature or a biological or natural phenomenon. It has come about as a result of promoting specific policies and developing concrete technologies. Its negative effects can be countered by judicious and prudential management at the national and international levels. In the era of globalization, no country or region can hope to remain immune to the consequences of serious events elsewhere. To better confront this type of situation in the future, we need to develop a framework for a global rapid response capacity in which individual countries and international institutions together with the private sector, trade unions and civil society organizations can play their respective parts effectively to forestall crises and resolve them expeditiously when they occur.

Our policy dialogue today on the state of the world economy and the high-level debate on market access in the next two days provide us with a timely opportunity to discuss these issues of great import for the well-being of all countries and help identify corrective measures.

This is also a particularly significant moment in the evolution of our multilateral institutions and their mutual cooperation. The current strains in the international financial and trading system, the continuing challenge of poverty eradication and social exclusion and the need to orient the forces of globalization so as to balance the imperatives of economic growth, social equity, workers rights, gender equality and environmental protection, pose a global challenge that none of our institutions can cope with singlehandedly.

We face the challenge of being able to develop new ways of thinking and new ways of doing. It is both an intellectual and a political demand on all of us. Same recipes, same solutions, same analyses will not do anymore.

Frankly speaking, I think we have not yet shown, in the multilateral system as a whole, that we are up to the task. Analytically, we continue to pursue sectoral policies to deal with integrated, multifaceted and systemic problems. Politically, I see in many societies a creeping expansion of what I could call a "blame the foreigner" mentality. Put the blame on low cost foreign products, too many foreign immigrants, low-paid foreign workers, irresponsible foreign speculators, alien foreign values, inadequate foreign medicine to adjust the economy; ultimately, the belief of the foreign incapacity to understand the reality of others. Although reflecting legitimate and differing perspectives, these are, of course, the first steps in the direction of the beggar-thy-neighbor policies of the 1930's which led to the breakdown of international cooperation and into war at that time.

We are obviously not there yet. But I don't think that we are taking the necessary preventive measures either, with the urgency required.

Why is this relevant to our policy dialogue today? Basically, because I am convinced that none of our international institutions acting individually, with its own set of policy measures and its own interpretation of events, have any meaningful chance to help steer the world toward more economic, social and environmental stability.

We need to reach a closer and more shared understanding of what is going on. We need to progressively develop an integrated policy outlook that reflects common objectives. For example, we can promote macro-economic balances together with a careful eye for the micro effects on the life of people, or stimulate productive investment and entrepreneurship while ensuring respect for the basic rights of workers and the environment. We can reap the benefits of financial deregulation while ensuring transparency and dampening speculation. Above all, we need a policy outlook that does not rest on the laurels of yesterday, but on the contrary, is renovated, up-to-date, modem and responsive to the needs of individuals, their families and the communities in which they live. Policies with which we can look people in the eyes without feeling ashamed of what these policies are doing to their lives, to their hopes and to their children. Policies that understand that the same objective can be reached through different means in different societies and levels of development.

If we are to develop this integrated policy package, ECOSOC is probably a good place to start thinking about it and - I would venture to say- that the set of creative and forward looking United Nations conferences and summits of the nineties, which generated an unprecedented level of international consensus and common goals on highly complex issues, are a good basis to start defining the components of that package.

While each institution must work towards these goals in its respective area of competence and each must reform and adapt to the changing environment, it is evident that we need to maximize complementarities among their policy advice, assistance strategies and operational support to countries so that these problems can be addressed on a broad front.

Significant progress has been made in this direction. The report of the Secretary General on cooperation between the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions clearly brings out the depth and breadth of the beneficial relationships that exist at all levels and specially at the country-level. At the intergovernmental level, important steps have been taken this year to intensify exchanges between ECOSOC and the Bretton Woods Institutions. The high-level special meeting of ECOSOC on 18 April launched a dialogue on issues of global financial integration from the broad perspective of development that was resumed during the visit of a group of UN Ambassadors that I had the honor of heading, to the World Bank at the invitation of its President, for an informal brainstorming on development issues.

Today's and future policy dialogues within the Economic and Social Council can play an important part in articulating the potential complementarities and in resolving possible conflicts among the macro-economic, social and political imperatives that policy-makers often face. It can help develop a shared understanding of issues and devise broad policy orientations to address them. The Council can thus help develop a common framework for action to promote broad-based and high quality growth that enhances at the same time economic,, social, environmental and political sustainability.

It is up to us member states and the institutions that constitute the United Nations system to turn this potential into reality.

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