Carlos Lage at the 2nd ACP Summit
We must not settle for specific advantages or crumbs from an unjust and merciless world order, but instead transform it by demanding our rights
SPEECH BY CARLOS LAGE DAVILA, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL OF STATE OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA, DURING THE 2nd SUMMIT OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT OF THE GROUP OF AFRICAN, CARIBBEAN, PACIFIC NATIONS WHICH TOOK PLACE IN SANTO DOMINGO ON NOVEMBER 25 AND 26, 1999
Your excellencies,
Distinguished guests:
First off, allow me to extend, on behalf of President Fidel Castro, a cordial greeting to the delegations attending the 2nd Summit of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific Countries, taking place in this beloved Dominican Republic, which for Cubans is like an extension of our land, our sky and our people.
One decade of globalization has intensified poverty and multiplied inequalities. Today nobody denies it, and it is well known by those of us who make up the three quarters of humanity living in our countries and in the increasingly larger areas with Third World conditions in developed countries.
The income ratio between the world's richest and poorest was 30 to 1 in 1960. In 1990 it had doubled; and in 1997 it was at 74 to 1. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the seven most developed countries, with 685 million inhabitants, is triple that of all the underdeveloped countries, whose populations surpass 4.5 billion people. The richest 20% of the population living in developed countries controls 86% of the world's GDP and 82% of the international export markets, has 74% of the telephone lines, represents 93% of the Internet users and consumes 86% of all that is produced.
The model of a globalized economy which has been imposed on us is characterized by unbridled and uncontrollable financial speculation. For each dollar that originates from production and productive work, there circulates more than $50 USD arising from the financial market.
Latin America and the Caribbean have lost billions of dollars through the deterioration of the terms of trade.
In 1998 alone, these losses surpassed $10 billion USD, despite the fact that the volume of their exports grew by almost 8%.
It can be confirmed that the concepts and practices that were gained over decades have virtually disappeared, such as tariff policies and preferential treatment which protected our incipient industries.
We poor countries tolerate the suffocating burden of an external debt exceeding $2.5 trillion USD, to which we dedicate payments representing almost 25% of our exports; and the more we pay, the more indebted we become.
The widely announced decision on the part of the G7 nations to cancel the debt only includes the 41 poorest and most indebted countries; and while this has been talked about for more than three years in the mass media, hardly four of those countries have been approved, and, if indeed that debt is forgiven, it would erase less than 10% of the Third World's debt. It is- let's get straight to the point- a propagandistic device which makes a mockery of our countries.
One million scientists and professionals trained in Latin America, at a cost of some $30 billion USD, live today in developed countries, and we have to pay for, or do without, their innovations and scientific contributions.
We poor countries are the least responsible for, and the greatest victims of environmental destruction. The United States, with only 4.7% of the Earth's population, consumes 23% of the world's energy and is responsible for 22% of the carbon dioxide emissions.
The reality is that the current process of globalization is not moving toward solving these problems, but is instead aggravating them. It's not about opposing or lamenting scientific and technological development, but managing it according to the interests and the needs of the people.
Free trade, financial deregulation and transnationalization are concepts that sound good, but must not be applied in an unjust and unequal world, without profound and extensive measures of compensation.
A nation's currency can be substituted for a common one, but not for the currency of another nation. Sovereignty can be given over to a greater sovereignty, but not given up altogether. The rich countries can unite, but not to impose rules on the rest of the world.
It's unjust that they try to give equal treatment to nations with different and very unequal conditions in their economic and social development.
It's unjust that the destiny of our countries in this globalized world, increasingly dominated by transnationals, could result in our becoming a large duty-free zone and a cheap source of labor for maquiladoras, without even levying taxes.
It's unjust that official development assistance is diminishing, and is steadily plummeting below the figure of 0.7% of the First World's GDP, which was once proclaimed as the goal. All the while, hunger and illness increase.
It's unjust that the largest economic power in the world announces that it will spend $17 billion USD in the production of a new fighter plane of even greater destructive power, when 1500 people die every hour from infectious diseases that are preventable or curable.
It's unjust that they place conditions on the access to credits and the amount of credits on internal reforms which cause social damage of incalculable consequences and which, in practice, make the wisest economic policies inviable.
It's unjust that intellectual property is merchandise, and that the most developed nations steal intelligence from us, and that our cultures are disappearing amidst the imposition of the consumerist model and the lifestyle practiced by the world's richest nation.
It's unjust that there exists a free flow of goods while obstacles on the free movement of the labor force are increasing, and new non-tariff barriers in the rich countries appear. Instead of free trade, we should be talking about trade for development.
We must fight to preserve all the positive aspects of the Lomé IV Convention and to reach a new agreement that recognizes the principles of international law and consecrates the right to development.
The future convention has to offer the ACP countries technology transfers, sufficient access to the European market, suitable cooperation and financing, as long as they are necessary in the process of trade liberalization, and it must take into account the differences in existing development.
There should be no limitations or conditions on respect of our sovereignty, on our inalienable right to self-determination, and on the possibility of deciding our development priorities and models.
We must defend these same principles before the World Trade Organization.
Our poverty or underdevelopment doesn't have to be an obstacle to express our demands, but rather a reason to demand them. We poor countries must have the last word.
We must not settle for specific advantages or crumbs from an unjust and merciless world order, but instead transform it by demanding our rights.
Together we are a great force.
Thank you. |