When
he addresses business and political leaders at
the World Economic Forum on Monday, UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan will deliver a strong message
on the link between poverty and terrorism.
"There
is an overall need for the interests and views of the
developing world to be taken more into account when
decisions about the future of the world economy are
being discussed in forums such as this Davos meeting
in New York," said a senior official who is a
close adviser to Kofi Annan.
"So much
of this is about perceptions. Otherwise people
feel they need to smash the
furniture to be heard. And thus, the importance
of the link between poverty and terrorism."
The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, told
this newspaper that the essence of Annan's
message would therefore be that the more big
business and big government in the wealthy
nations do to alleviate poverty beyond their
borders, the less likely poorer countries will
be to remain breeding grounds of discontent
and potential terrorists. In short, Annan will
be playing "devil's advocate" at
the WEF meeting, the official said.
He noted that the UN Secretary General had
personally dispatched him to the WEF meetings
at New York's Waldorf Astoria Hotel this week
to monitor the talks so that Annan can keep
abreast of the issues being discussed and,
if necessary, be ready to remind WEF guests
of some issues to which they should be paying
closer attention.
"The fact that the Secretary General
has attended these WEF meetings does not mean
that it is a club in which he feels at home," the
official said. In what the official described
as the UN supremo's most notable intervention
with the world's corporate elite, Annan in
1999 delivered the first warning on some of
the dangers of globalization and suggested
corporations sign up to a Global Compact of
closer cooperation and assistance to developing
nations. Since that speech, the backlash against
globalization had become much more apparent,
the official said recalling protests at meetings
of world leaders in Seattle, Prague, Genoa
and Davos itself last year.
"The fact that the Secretary General
will be addressing the Davos meeting and not
the counter-meeting in Porto Allegre should
not be seen as his opting for one or the other," he
said. "There is also the feeling that
it is more important and useful for him to
address these fat cats, that there is a message
to be brought across to them, and that it is
more crucial he do this, even though he might
have found many friends in Porto Allegre. But
senior UN representatives will be present at
both gatherings."
The official said Annan was pleased that many
major corporations signed on to the Global
Compact idea by adopting new codes of corporate
practice, especially in the fields of human
rights, labor standards and respect for the
environment.
"On Monday, the message the Secretary
General wants to bring to the WEF is not different
from what he said before--but it will come
across with greater urgency in the post-September
11 period. It will be that, of course, while
the people in Porto Allegre might not have
everything right, their viewpoint is important
and needs to be heard in New York," Annan's
adviser said. "He will be warning both
business and governments in the prosperous
world that they really need to do something
about the conditions in which the rest of the
world is living. It will be the same message
he conveyed in his Nobel lecture in Oslo in
December."
Annan will
speak about investment strategies designed
to ensure small and poor nations are
not completely left out, "which is often
the case". He will discuss the benefits
of more open trade and explain how some countries
are simply too poor to make their own way in
the global market without substantial help.
The official
said Annan would also raise the issue of
public health -a major theme of this
year's WEF meeting. "And here he will
not only be speaking about the scourge of HIV/AIDS,
but malaria. I refer here to the WEF health
initiative which the World Health Organization
is strongly supporting."
Annan feels
companies have to be engaged in the struggle
to improve health standards, which
have been neglected in the developing world.
If this were left simply to the markets, research
funding will go mostly into those drugs and
vaccines demanded by the rich countries. "An
extraordinarily small percentage of research
funds go into dealing with diseases like malaria
from which so many people suffer in the tropical
world," he said.
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