Opening Address at the 2004 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting
Date: 28 Sep 2004
Speaker: Secretary-General Don McKinnon
Location: Basseterre , St Kitts & Nevis
Prime Ministers Denzil Douglas,
Prime Ministers,
Ministers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a pleasure for us to be meeting here in St Kitts and Nevis.
All the more so that it is the first time that Commonwealth Finance Ministers are meeting in this beautiful country.
Thank you, Prime Minister Douglas, for the warmth of your welcome and your hospitality.
But we also meet in the shadow of the recent hurricanes which have devastated some of our member countries in the region.
We have seen Grenada devastated by Hurricane Ivan. We have also just seen the Bahamas hit for the second time this month. Others too have suffered seriously from successive storms.
I have appealed to members of the Commonwealth family to assist those most affected.
Your meeting will focus on the many challenges facing Commonwealth economies today.
Some of these challenges are new ones, while others are older, enduring challenges.
There are three major issues which I believe must give a sense of purpose and direction to your discussions here in Basseterre .
Three issues that affect all Commonwealth countries in one way or the other.
Three issues on which, if real progress could be made even in the next ten years, this meeting would have been worthwhile.
Three issues on which, if there is no progress, the world will witness more poverty, more deprivation, more anger and more instability.
The first challenge is that posed by the Millennium Development Goals - on which after the five years since the acceptance of those very laudable aspirations, there is still no reason to give out any gold, silver or bronze medals.
The second is the need for a determined thrust for trade liberalisation, which is capable of giving so many millions of poor people real economic opportunities.
The third issue is the need for continued recognition of the permanent vulnerability of the Commonwealth's 32 small states -- evidence of which was so tragically but vividly demonstrated in the aerial photographs of Grenada after Hurricane Ivan.
Let me dwell briefly on these challenges.
1. Achieving the MDGs
At the dawn of this millennium, world leaders, speaking with one voice, made some promises: the promise to provide education to every child in the world, the promise to fight gender discrimination, the promise to combat HIV/AIDS and reduce child mortality.
They showed us their vision of a better world and showed the way to achieve it.
But today, five years on, there is a real danger that this vision will never be realised.
If more is not done now, the targets for education, child mortality and global poverty will not be met for another 150 years.
And in the Commonwealth, 14 countries will miss the global poverty target (out of 43 countries for which data is available).
This is simply not good enough. This is not what we promised.
This was not supposed to be an academic exercise. It was not meant to prove to the sceptics that we would fail. It was done to give people real hope.
One hundred years ago, we could have claimed that reducing poverty and child mortality was beyond our means because we didn't have the necessary knowledge or because the technology wasn't there.
Today, there is no excuse. The barrier is not lack of knowledge. It's lack of political will.
But it's not too late - if we start acting now.
Decisions your governments take today will determine whether the MDGs will be achieved in 10 years' time.
That is why I urge all rich nations to be far more generous on trade liberalisation, on increasing your investment in developing countries, on increasing your development aid.
That is why I also encourage you to support the UK Chancellor's International Finance Facility, which seeks to double aid from US$50 billion to US$100 billion a year
2. Making trade work for the poor
Another way of alleviating poverty is to give developing countries real opportunities to trade. This is the second challenge.
For many years, poor nations have been prevented access to developed countries' markets through tariff barriers and trade subsidies.
Most developing countries are still waiting to benefit from the Uruguay Round, concluded 10 years ago.
After years of promising to eliminate their subsidies, it seems that rich countries are finally ready to take action.
Last month's WTO deal succeeded in breaking the trade deadlock and there are clear signs that both the US and the EU are moving to end agricultural subsidies.
But many hurdles must yet be overcome for the Doha Development Round to deliver. Let me highlight two of them.
First, we must make sure poor countries have the means and the capacity to take advantage of the opportunities opened up by trade liberalisation.
Removing trade barriers is one thing. Ensuring all nations - rich and poor alike - have a fair chance to trade is quite another.
Many developing countries need assistance in building their trade capacity if they are to compete successfully in world markets.
Otherwise, they will be like dinghies pushed out on the raging ocean: the dinghies may be free to go where they want - but they're likely to sink soon after they leave the port.
Freedom to trade is essential. But it's not enough. For small and vulnerable economies, the capacity to trade is every bit as important.
And second, we must provide assistance to countries which are dependent on trade preferences to cope with the phasing out of such arrangements in the current Doha Round of World Trade negotiations.
If help is not given, trade liberalisation will not bring new opportunities to developing nations. Instead, it will contribute to further marginalise them.
That is why we are proposing to develop a private sector fund to assist Commonwealth developing countries deal with the loss of trade preferences and diversify their economies.
3. Small States: redressing the balance
And now to the third challenge.
As I noted earlier, we meet at a time when many of our member countries in this region, the Caribbean , are reeling from the effects of the most destructive natural disasters in living memory.
It's bad enough when a natural disaster hits a large country. But the effects on a small nation can be devastating.
In 1992, hurricane Andrew cost the US 0.5% of its GDP. But Gilbert, in 1988, cost Jamaica 28% of its GDP.
As you may know, after hurricane Ivan ripped through Grenada , earlier this month, 90% of the island was destroyed.
Although the Commonwealth does not have any disaster relief teams or disaster relief funds, member countries can - and do - offer help in such situations.
This is one of the great strengths of the Commonwealth: when one member is in trouble, others come and help in every way they can.
I know I speak for all Commonwealth countries when I express our sympathy and our solidarity to all those who have been affected by recent hurricanes.
There are, of course, other factors that make small states vulnerable:
Remoteness, isolation, limited diversification, lack of access to external capital, lack of infrastructure, loss of human capital, the list goes on.
It's worth recalling that the Commonwealth was the first organisation which recognised the unique challenges small states face and raised awareness about these problems on the international stage.
This, in fact, should come as no surprise, since small states represent 32 out of our 53 members.
Much of our work is aimed at giving small states the tools to stand their ground and help level the playing field, be it by supporting them in international trade talks, by helping them defend their maritime boundaries or by assisting them exploit their natural resources.
And, of course, our work in support of small states will continue as we help shape the agenda for the Mauritius meeting on the sustainable development of small island states in January next year.
Conclusion
The challenges I have just outlined to you may seem daunting. But they can be overcome.
And they must be overcome if we are to make a real difference in the lives of Commonwealth citizens.
That's why, during your deliberations over the next two days, I would encourage you to think beyond the statistics, beyond the figures and the data, about the real people whose livelihoods and future depend on you.
Because the success of this meeting will not lie in a carefully crafted communiqué, or in a punchy press release, or in positive media coverage.
Posterity will judge this meeting successful if it helps improve the lives of Commonwealth people -- if it helps produce more clean drinking water, provide better education, promote better health and create real economic opportunities for all.
I wish you well in your deliberations.
PDF version
Download the speech: 
Opening Address at the 2004 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting
delicious
digg
reddit
facebook
stumbleupon
News feeds