PM Golding Calls for Improvements to Global Financial Institutions, Trade Expansion & G20 Consultations

Prime Minister Bruce Golding continued his call for reform of international financial organizations and systems saying that consultations had to be a part of decision-making. Mr. Golding also said that the Doha Round of negotiations needed to be concluded.
Making his contribution to the United Nations General Assembly on Monday (September 27), Mr. Golding urged that every effort be made to conclude the Doha Round in this spirit and “we urge, further, that the gains already accrued to developing countries in earlier negotiations be not unraveled”. The Doha Round seeks to conclude international trade arrangements that include the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Mr. Golding said that international financial institutions needed urgent reform, not only for accountability standards, but in policies that will secure development for partners.
“We urge, also, that the multilateral agencies move beyond what is now the paramount objective of ensuring that the international payments system is secure. The financial assistance provided to many countries during this time of stress, necessary and welcome though it is, is rooted in policies that are contractionary, designed to consolidate and stabilize even at the cost of increasing poverty and social dislocation,” Mr. Golding said.
He recalled that the current global financial crisis exposed weaknesses in the governance of international financial institutions and called for a system that gave developing countries a greater voice. Mr. Golding supported the G20 as the centre of global economic policy making, but said that it should engage the views of the wider developing world and the United Nations in its decisions.
“In the same vein, while we welcome the establishment of the G20 as the locus of global economic policy making, we urge that it institutes a mechanism to engage the views of the wider developing world. It is also important to establish a close working relationship with the UN to ensure complementarity with the role of the UN in economic development as mandated under its Charter,” Prime Minister Golding said.