| APRN attacks debt and poverty in Jakarta conference |
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| Written by Administrator |
| Saturday, 30 September 2000 18:45 |
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More than 130 delegates from 23 countries gathered in Jakarta for the 2nd Annual APRN Conference on August 21-23, 2000. With the theme "Poverty and Financing Development", the conference was attended by various research organizations, development NGOs, as well as people from the academe and the government from the Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. "For many years, it was impossible to imagine that Indonesia could officially host such an international meeting," Ms. Binny Buchori the Secretarty General of International NGO forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), one of the co-organizers of the conference, said in her welcome speech. She was referring to the dark years of Soeharto dictatorship where such meeting would be a subject to suspicion by the Indonesian authority. Perfect venue It was indeed appropriate to hold the conference, which aimed to highlight the issues of debt and poverty in Indonesia. Like many underdeveloped countries in Asia, the impact of financing development is very clear in Indonesia. It has an outstanding foreign debt of US$140 billion and its debt service ratio has reached around 50% of its national spending. "We find it an irony, that while development is meant to attack poverty, it has resulted in creating more poverty," Buchori said. She stressed that there is a pressing need for Indonesia to critically question its approach to poverty and promote development. In a keynote address by the Chief of Logistic State Agency (BULOG), Mr. Rizal Ramli said that the big chunk of Indonesia's debt went to big corporations which were in a better position to borrow money from the banks. Citing the experience of Indonesia during the financial crisis that hit the region in 1997, these big corporations folded up and left the banking system almost bankrupt due to unpaid loans. To rehabilitate the financial system, the government had to infuse US$80 billion using borrowed money from foreign institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Market-led globalization "Market led globalization is here to stay," said Ms. Anh-Nga Tran Nguyen of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in her keynote address to the conference. She said that rapid liberalization and globalization resulted in the Asian financial crisis in the region. With globalization, the international financial system has become private-sector driven. To illustrate this, she said that in 1998, 84% of the resource flows to developing countries came from the private as compared to only 44% in 1990. While private flows increased, the volume of official flows stagnated or declined. It is notable that of the private flows, foreign direct investment (FDI) is the biggest, followed by foreign portfolio investment (FPI). "The acceleration of globalization in the 90s has brought more riches to the world economy but also more inequality," Nguyen observed. The biggest challenge of the 21st Century should be a significant reduction of poverty and inequality among nations, she added. She said that globalization has reduced the policy autonomy of the weaker countries. Government should be stronger and more skillful in putting in place appropriate institutional policy framework and channel capital flows towards productive uses, she suggested. Nguyen has recognized that NGOs represent a force with which the world has to count. The failure of (the WTO) Seattle meeting is a testimony of the rising influence of NGOs, she concluded. Research and the struggle against globalization "The massive protests that hounded the WTO meeting in Seattle is a historic achievement," said Antonio Tujan Jr., one of the conference convenors, in his introduction to the APRN conference. "It brings into focus many important developments in the global people's movements that are significant for us NGOs involved in research and advocacy," Tujan explained. One of the developments he said was the evolution of a globally coordinated movement capable of launching internationally coordinated mass actions against neoliberal globalization. Tujan stressed that this lies in its foundation in the strong national campaigns and movements in various countries. Militant protest is a key feature that spelled victory against the MAI and at Seattle, he said. Tujan recognized that another key development that spelled victory is the development of research as a key weapon of civil society and people's movements in breaking down complicated economic issues into popular form for quick and broad dissemination. "Research has come of age as an important tool for politicalization of economics and for effective development of popular action" he pointed out. APRN is a product of this new development, Tujan stressed. He said the network is an affirmation of its powerful role and value for achieving democratic participation and real development for the people. The APRN "was an effort to develop and strengthen transnational solidarity and the grassroots movements in various countries". APRN on its first research conference in Manila in July 1999 had the theme of trade liberalization and involved extensive discussion on various issues on the WTO. He said that the conference became an important part of the process of preparing for the WTO debates and actions in Seattle, among others. Development Financing As a result of the Asian financial crisis and with the campaign of the Jubilee campaign for Third World debt cancellation, the issue of debt, development financing and financial liberalization became contentious issues, Tujan explained. He said that the financial crisis is the cumulative effects of economic crisis and financial liberalization sharpened the focus of critique and protest on the neoliberal policies of the IMF and the World Bank enunciated in the so-called Washington consensus. As people's researchers, we need to give flesh to the issues of debt and aid through our research and simplify these issues for our people, Tujan said. Most importantly, he stressed that there is a need to explain the problem of development financing within the context of the lopsided global financial system dominated by global banking system and financial monopolies. Tujan said the theme of Poverty and Financing Development was chosen to highlight the issues on debt and poverty and to add to the effort to create public awareness, identify issues for advocacy, topics of research and point out possible coordinated activities. Conference proper The panel of speakers on poverty laid down the different faces of crisis in Asia. In the afternoon of the first day, Dr. Michael Chai spoke on "Poverty and Finance", he pointed out the weaknesses of Financing for Development. Raja Mohan of Education Research Assistance for Consumer (ERAC) discussed poverty in Malaysia with his presentation "Rural Poverty and Agriculture in Malaysia". Micro-credit is not the solution to poverty, stressed Farida Akhter of UBINIG in her presentation entitled "Micro-Credit: The Development Devastation for the Poor." She said that micro-credit can be seen as the latest development disaster through feminization of indebtedness. Poverty results in migration, explained Ramon Bultron of the Asia Pacific Mission for Migrant Filipinos based in Hongkong. In his paper entitled "Poverty, Migration and Micro Finance", he outlined the labor export policy of the Philippine government. Overseas Development Assistance was the focus of another panel in the afternoon. From a trade unionist's view point, Joei Warnock of Canada Asia Pacific Resource Network (CAPRN) illustrated Canada's ODA and it's "tied aid" or aid given only under certain conditions. "Japan ODA: Aid or Loan?" a paper presented by Hisashi Nakamura of Asia Pacific Resource Center (PARC) spelled out the characteristics of Japan ODA and recommended economic cooperation method and directions for improvement. Greenfield investment is a key component of corporate globalization, argued James Goodman of Australia in his paper entitled "Export Credit Agencies and ¢â‚¬ËœGreenfield' Investment". He explained how corporations promote neo-liberal policies and take advantage of weak nations. The second day of the conference tackled financial crisis and the liberalization of the financial system. T. Rajamoorthy of the Third World Network (TWN) spoke about "Financial Crisis and Capital Controls: The Malaysian Experience". In his presentation, he outlined the financial policies that Malaysia implemented to shield its economy in the era of unregulated capital flows. Korea was hardly hit by the Asian financial crisis as stated by Serapina Cha MI-Kyung of the Korean House of International Solidarity (KHIS). Serapina assessed the factors that triggered the crisis in Korea and pointed out the weaknesses of government in dealing with such disaster. While Malaysia may have the strongest currency in the region, the opposite is happening in Indonesia. In his presentation on "Financial Crisis and Indonesian Debt", Sugeng Bahagijo of INFID narrated how the financial crisis in 1997 pulled down the value of the Indonesian Rupiah. International creditors such as the IMF infused money to troubled economy so they could pay back their debts. This was discussed by Rosario Bella Guzman of IBON Foundation in her paper on "Financing Debt". Creditors imposed neo-liberal policies such as financial deregulation and this led to speculative investments and foreign indebtedness. Guzman's presentation was contextualized by Dr. Edberto Villegas in his paper entitled "Liberalization of Financial System: The Philippine Case". Villegas traced the history of economic reforms that Philippine government as imposed by the IMF and World Bank. Kavaljit Singh of Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) of India discussed the "Global Financial Architecture: Challenges and Alternatives". He argued that a new international financial architecture should be put in place and he enumerated the steps, including capital controls, toward this objective. The last day of the conference focused on the burning issues around the WTO. Cecilia Oh of TWN provided an "Overview of the Current Situation of the WTO" and the context of processes in the negotiations. She said the victory of the Seattle Ministerial Meeting was not a victory over neo-liberal paradigm. However, she said the event gave people time to re-examine the globalization being promoted by the WTO. Mika Iba of NESSFE of Japan discussed "SPS, CODEX and AoA" under the WTO. She said the stringent international standard set by the WTO on food and other consumer products will only be beneficial to developed countries. Biswajit Dhar of Research and Information System for the Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries (RISNODEC) based in India outlined the important "Issues Related to Current Agreement on Agriculture Review". Dhar's presentation focused on important issues in lieu of the upcoming review such as fundamental imbalance in the structure of the AoA, the implementation of the commitments by developed countries and the ineffective articulation of the vital needs of the developing countries. The major flaws of the AoA were contextualized by Antonio Tujan's presentation on the "Impact of WTO Agreement on Agriculture in the Philippines". Tujan of IBON enumerated the massive impact of the agreement to the lived of peasants and farmers in the Philippines. These include displacement of livelihood due to crop and land use conversions. The impact of globalization on labor was discussed by Dr. Asad Sayeed of Pakistan Institute of Labour Education Research (PILER) and Apo Leung of Asia Monitor Resource Center (AMRC) based in Hongkong. Leung explained in his paper "From Security to Uncertainty-Labour and Welfare Reform in PRC" that since the development of market economy which began in 1978, welfare protection for Chinese people has been in steady decline. The economic reforms brought about by liberalization as a result of China's entry to the WTO has resulted massive poverty and widespread displacement among the workers. Workshop Resolutions The inputs through panel of discussants on various issues were followed by workshops in the afternoon. The workshop aimed to flesh out the discussion in the plenary. Most importantly, it hoped to determine new issues and trends and point out areas for research and possible cooperation. Workshops were facilitated by various organizations. These include workshop on Asia Monetary Fund (AMF) and Asian Development Bank, ODA Monitoring, Poverty Measures. Workshops on Debt Relief and Ending Debt took place on the second day. Workshop on AoA, Labor and Researching WTO happened on the last day of the conference. These workshops results will be discussed and decided by the APRN members for possible cooperation. Like it? Share it!
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| Last Updated on Monday, 02 March 2009 16:05 |
