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• Opening address at the 2005 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting

Opening address at the 2005 Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting

Date: 18 Sep 2005
Speaker: Secretary-General Don McKinnon
Location: Barbados

It is a great pleasure to be in Barbados. It is almost twenty years since Commonwealth Finance Ministers were able to appreciate the beauty of this country and the warm hospitality for which Bajans are well known. Thank you, Mr Prime Minister, for having us back.

It is also appropriate to meet in a country which is a living example of how development and democracy can be mutually reinforcing. Barbados has been a consistent high-performer on the Human Development Index, that being a composite of economic, social and political variables. Unfortunately much of the rest of the latest UN Human Development Report, published about 10 days ago, was less positive reading.

That Report confirms the depressing correlation between the risk of conflict and poverty: countries with a per capita income of US$250 are twice as likely to experience civil war as countries with US$600.

Clearly, we live in a world with shocking poverty, exclusion and inequality. The world's 500 richest people have a combined income greater than that of the poorest 416 million. Every hour of every day 1200 children die and those deaths are avoidable.

Our world, of course, does not have to be this way. Indeed, such deprivation is a threat to the wellbeing of all of us. We need change that is fundamental and transformative rather than change that is simply incremental.

In the Commonwealth, there is evidence that a number of countries are improving their economic governance and stabilising their economies. I arrived here today from the summit in New York which was reviewing implementation of the Millennium Development Goals as at 2005, one third of the way towards the 2015 deadline for achieving the eight MDGs. In the Commonwealth, 11 of our 53 members have recorded significant progress on the MDGs already. But the results are mixed: 31 of our 53 have made slow progress, and some are actually going backwards. So there are some good signs, but o ur organisation still has work to do.

Two important Commonwealth constituencies, in particular - Africa and small states - continue to be marginalised. Their share of global trade and investment has declined in recent years at a time when effort is directed at achieving the opposite.

Despite the concerns, there are some causes for optimism. I am encouraged that the G8, at Gleneagles, promised to fulfil more than 50 of the 90 demands made by the Commission for Africa .

What was achieved at Gleneagles was historic. If its commitments are translated into action, the term, "development dividend", will have genuine meaning: 13,000 people who would have died every day will live.

• 600,000 African children, who would have died from malaria, will live.
• The provision of anti-retroviral drugs to virtually everyone in Africa who needs them within five years, will save more than six million lives.
• Polio should now be eradicated.
• Twenty million more children will go to school.
• Five million more orphans will be cared for.

These would be remarkable achievements that were unthinkable a few years ago. As I said in New York , though, it is now a matter of 'delivery, deIivery, delivery.' The pledges must be translated into action.

Trade - fairer trade - is the most potent means to combat global poverty. My visits around the Commonwealth have made me acutely aware of the inequalities and unfairness of the global trading system. The longer the multilateral system fails to deliver the potential of integration into global markets, the longer poverty will persist. That is why we should all be working towards a powerful statement about the Doha Round from Commonwealth leaders at this year's CHOGM, which will be taking place just weeks before the WTO Ministerial in Hong Kong .

And that is also why I am convening a meeting of the Commonwealth's Trade Ministers on the eve of the Hong Kong meeting. Because the missing ingredient right now in the WTO is genuine political commitment in order to drive the negotiators forward with a clear sense of direction.

I have followed trade negotiations for long enough to know that these things go down to the wire, hence the DDA is well behind schedule and the expiry of Fast Track is looming on the horizon - and if there wasn't that, there'd be an election in Europe or such like. But I also recognise the differences this time: there are many more negotiators in the room than in the past, and there are new and powerful blocs which have demanded a say this time that the traditional occupants of the Green Room can no longer ignore. And yet still the shadow-boxing continues in Geneva .

In the Commonwealth, we have already established some bottom lines which span all our countries in all their diversity of trading interests. That unity of view and purpose has the potential to make a difference in the WTO. And the higher we can set the bar on trade policy across our membership, the greater the impact we can have. Ironically, I often find it is those outside the Commonwealth who recognise this potential more than those within.

It is timely that the Special Theme for your meeting this year is "Giving Practical Effect to the Millennium Review." We are fortunate that Professor Jeffrey Sachs will be with us tomorrow. There could be nobody better placed to help us take stock of what happened at the summit in New York last week and to offer thoughts on the way forward.

Over the next two days, I am sure you will also want to exchange views on the world economic situation, particularly the implications of high and volatile oil prices. And I know you will take the opportunity to address issues that will be on the IMF/World Bank agenda later in the week. On debt relief, it is obviously important to deliver on the Gleneagles pledges, as I said. We also need creative ways of addressing the growing problem of domestic debt.

At last year's meeting you supported a request from Prime Minister Denzil Douglas of St Kitts and Nevis , for a review of the joint World Bank/ Commonwealth Secretariat Task Force Report on the vulnerability of small states, dating from 2000.

You will have the opportunity to discuss the review which concludes that the vulnerabilities identified in 2000 still persist in 2005. The review also points out that new factors have emerged which have increased vulnerability, including faster-than-anticipated loss of trade preferences; rapidly growing debt burden; increased environmental risks; rising concerns about youth unemployment and crime; and the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. To tackle these challenges, the international community will need to take stronger and more effective action to assist small states address such problems.

Let me conclude on a bright note. You will also hear during your meeting about the success of the Commonwealth Private Investment Initiative. This has raised over US$400 million for investment in commercial enterprises in embryonic markets across various regions of the Commonwealth. The returns overall have been very positive.

I am frequently asked about the demise of the Commonwealth. Only last week, yet another journalist posed the question. And so I frequently have to respond that the organisation is in great shape and, in fact, tracking in the opposite direction, being on an upward trajectory.

The value that Ministers derive from gatherings such as this one, and the practical outcomes achieved from initiatives such as the Private Investment Initiative, show that there is continued relevance and benefit. I wish you well in continuing that Commonwealth tradition and trend.