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MONTERREY,
Mexico -- Eveline Herfkens knows how to be provocative.
In fact, she thrives on it. The one thing that
no one can accuse her of is being complacen-and
she prefers that others aren't either. During
a roundtable discussion she chaired at the International
Conference on Financing for Development, Herfkens,
Minister of Development Co-operation for The
Netherlands,
told the 100-odd country representatives present
there: "This is your opportunity if you
ever wanted to ask but never dared to of the
international
system players like the IMF, World Bank, WTO,
UN. They all are here at this table, and you
can seize
the moment if you want to." The idea, she
says came to her from a Woody Allen film. Anything
that you ever wanted to ask about sex but never
dared to. And Herfkens succeeded in stirring
one of the liveliest debates of the conference
according
to some participants.
"The
whole international system has signed on for the
Millennium Development Goals," Herfkens said. "But
the odd man out is the WTO. How can they play a part
in global governance when the system is so unfair
today with trade barriers and subsidies?"
While the main themes of the roundtable she
chaired were coherence and partnerships, Herfkens
dismissed them as overused words at international
meetings resulting in no substantive dialogue.
Her style is more direct and specific. Doing
away with niceties is easy for her. She told
the country delegates not to come with prepared
statements and to do away with thanking the
Mexican government for being a host as it would
save time for more meaningful discussions.
Herfkens, who assumed her current position
three-and-a-half years ago, is a feisty, no-nonsense
woman leader who is an equal-opportunity critic
of developed and developing nations. She points
out readily why the global governance system
is not working.
"Countries have essentially incoherent
and often contradictory policies," said
Herfkens. Developing nations, she noted, were
doing themselves a disservice by not formulating
consistent and uniform national policies on
development that can be presented and argued
compellingly at various international organizations.
As
Executive Director of the World Bank in the
early 90ss
and later as UN ambassador to
Geneva, Herfkens says she has personally witnessed
over a decade endless examples of the conflicting
messages that countries send. "In one
particular developing country, the finance
minister at WTO said that we need good patent
protection," Herfkens said. "And
the health minister of the same country says
that we need affordable medicine for the poor."
She
added: "One
country said at the World Bank that we have
to do our homework before
we qualify for debt relief. Same country in
the UN in New York claims that we need unconditional
debt relief now. And this is not a unique case."
Herfkens
does not spare the developed nations either. "A
development minister of a Western country
argued for supporting farmers in Africa
to increase the production of tomatoes or increase
cattle production of milk. At the same time,
the European agriculture policy is destroying
markets for these same farmers as it is cheaper
in Africa to buy powdered milk than local fresh
milk from the farmer because they are subsidizing
tomato paste and milk powder."
Herfkens
recognizes the importance of official development
assistance
in resolving some of
the global development crises of the day. In
fact, she believes that all other issues take
a back seat to ODA. "I am fed up with
dealing with competing issues such as debt
relief, health and education and all of the
others that are out there," Herfkens commented.
Citing an example, she said, "We never
would have needed the Global Health Fund if
countries had done their part in contributing
to ODA."
Herfkens
committed herself early on to putting on
the international
agenda the issue of compliance
with the 0.7 percent target for ODA set in
the early 70s. Five years later, four countries-Denmark,
Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands-have reached
the target. "I have been irritated for
a quarter of a century on ODA," Herfkens
remarked. "Twenty five years go by and
everyone takes for granted that four idiots
that complied. The rest are freeriders and
get away with it."
But
Herfkens found it unacceptable. Even though
people
told her that the issue of compliance
was a dead horse, she refused to let the ball
drop. She raised the issue first with the European
Council of Development Ministers, then the
Council of Finance Ministers, and finally at
prime ministerial level in Europe. And the
debate has had some effect. Herfkens said that
after 25 years of non-compliance by any nation,
now suddenly in the last few years the tide
seems to be turning. Luxembourg will meet its
target this year, Ireland has committed to
meeting it in 2007, and Belgium met it a month
ago. While some believe that the increase in
ODA is due to the events of September 11, Herfkens
argues that the momentum was building long
before then. At the European Summit in Guttenburg
last year, the heads of state recommitted themselves
to the 0.7 percent target. But even as the
European Union committed itself to the Millennium
Development goals, it did not set concrete
deadlines, and that irks Herfkens. "This
essentially means that nations say that we
are committed but our part of the check is
in the mail after 2015," she said. On
the issue of the comparisons between Europe
and the United States, Herfkens said: "While
I was disappointed with the European level
of commitment, it was the American proposal
that made me realize how profoundly better
the European proposal was."
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