Incoming G77 Chair in Geneva on Celebrating 50th Year of UNCTAD & G77
Statement delivered by Ambassador Miguel Carbo Benites, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Ecuador to the World Trade Organization and other international economic organizations in Geneva on the occasion of the handover ceremony for the G-77 and China in Geneva held on 17 January 2013.
Next year we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of UNCTAD as well as of the G-77 and China. This is not a coincidence: all of those who know about development issues are aware that the origin and the destiny of both organizations are closely linked. The principles and objectives that led to the convening of the first meeting of UNCTAD in 1964 are the same that led to the establishment of the G-77, the only grouping in which almost all the developing countries take part.
On the eve of this celebration, it is time to take stock of the past fifty years: In 1964 we started from a development perspective based on the approach of visionary leaders such as Raúl Prebisch, founder and first Secretary General of UNCTAD, in which social equity and inclusion were at the forefront, and then we moved towards the principles of the so-called Washington Consensus, with an obsessed focus on indiscriminate economic growth regardless of the human beings and their needs.
Fortunately, Latin America and other regions of the world are in the process of restoring the role of the State in the management of public policies. Indeed, the consequences of the implementation of the development pattern applied mainly in the 80s and especially in the 90s based on deregulation and on the dominance of markets over the economy, have led the world to the biggest financial crisis of the last seventy years which not even developed countries have been able to avoid.
In fact, developing countries faced the worst part of the crisis before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the onset of the current financial crisis. The deepest crisis we experienced was that of the lack of ideas and political initiatives during the 80s and 90s in an almost automatic implementation of economic recipes in a one-size-fits-all development pattern which eventually resulted in a series of financial crises in countries like Mexico, Russia, Turkey and South-East Asian countries, and made almost every country in the world highly vulnerable as it has been confirmed by the current financial crisis.
In those years of political and intellectual draught, UNCTAD emerged as the international organization that advocated the adoption of public policies towards the establishment of redistribution processes in order to help countries to reduce their poverty levels and put emphasis on redressing imbalances. It is precisely the implementation of heterodox policies by a large number of developing countries which has allowed us to deal with the current financial crisis—with fewer setbacks in many cases – than those suffered by developed countries.
The chairmanship of Ecuador to the G-77 will seek to honour the UNCTAD and G-77 tradition as bastions of deeply social policies focused on development and human beings. The Government I represent is determined to underpin these principles to achieve a fairer and more compassionate society, for this is an essential precondition to build a peaceful world.
In addition to the coordination tasks now assumed by Ecuador, we have planned three activities in preparation of the G-77 for the 50th anniversary of the establishment of UNCTAD and the G-77 and China.
At a time when our developed partners have showed signs of weakening of their development commitments, our position should be more cohesive and robust to defend the principles which have driven the discourse and practice about development and to assert that the agreed principles and objectives are international commitments that ought to be respected.
I wish to conclude by reaffirming my country’s commitment with the objectives and principles that motivated the creation of the G-77 and China. Ecuador is committed to the construction of a fairer world in which there is greater solidarity between nations, a world where they can come together in the pursuit of development with trade as an instrument and not as an end in itself, to improve the living conditions, well-being and peace of our peoples with due respect of the rights of nature. We hope that in this way we will honour and stand for the ideals for which the founders of our Group stood for.
