Re-thinking globalisation

By Taha Abdel-Alim Taha

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The World Commission on the Social Dimensions of Globalisation, in a report entitled A Fair Globalisation, Creating Opportunities for All, admits that global disparities are morally indefensible and politically destabilising. There is an obvious need to review the policies and institutions that govern the course of globalisation. So far, benefits of globalisation tend to go to the few, while the disadvantages of globalisation affect the lives of the many. Therefore, it is time that the international community show more solidarity and responsibility. Those nations which have been left behind deserve consistent help. We need to reduce inequities among -- and within -- various countries. We need to re-distribute the costs and burdens of re- adjustment. And we urgently need to alleviate poverty. Those countries that benefit the most from globalisation should help those who benefit the least. The pledge by the world's richest nations to provide 0.7 per cent of their national income to poor countries is a good start, but it has yet to be fulfilled.

The UN Millennium Declaration, released in September 2000, notes that "developing countries and countries with economies in transition face special difficulties... Thus, only through broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common humanity in all its diversity, can globalisation be made fully inclusive and equitable. These efforts must include policies and measures, at the global level, which correspond to the needs of developing countries and economies in transition and are formulated and implemented with their effective participation."

Egypt has so far managed to restrain the adverse effects of globalisation at home, while continuing to play a crucial role in the international scene. But it can do more. For example, Egypt needs to engage other developing nations in a quest to bring fairness to the process of globalisation. Egypt is in a position to forge closer links with industrial nations in Europe and the United States as well as accelerate the pace of regional economic cooperation with Arab and African countries. I believe that the Egyptian government, civil society, and its business community should, in cooperation with the developing world, work towards accomplishing the following:

- Raise the levels of investment, growth, and employment. No individual or nation should be left out of development. We need to formulate a global strategy for investment, growth, and employment. More efforts are needed to boost the participation of the developing world in the global economy.

- Establish good governance on a global level. We need a more democratic and accountable management of globalisation. We need to enlarge the involvement of developing nations in the decision-making process within the World Bank and the IMF, as well as in WTO negotiations. All nations should have a say in how the global economy is run.

- Create a better world. We need a world that endorses the economic and social objectives noted in the Millennium Declaration, a world that recognises the variety of national developmental needs, and a world that facilitates the more active involvement of international organisations, governments, parliaments, business, labour, and civil society. Accountability, transparency, fairness, and openness must all become integral components of globalisation.

- Put people first. We need to provide benefits and opportunities for all nations. We need to cater to the basic needs of the poor. Globalisation should bring economic security, decent jobs, healthcare, education, housing, drinking water, and a clean environment to the entire world population.

- Infuse fairness into the global economic scene. We need to offer equal opportunities and accessibility to all countries. We need fair rules for trade and capital movement as well as cross-border travel. Such measures are needed not only to end exploitation and racism but also to raise productivity worldwide. Developing nations should, meanwhile, integrate social dimensions into their economic reform programmes. The conditions imposed on aid often interfere with national economic policies and need, therefore, to be removed.

- Create a multilateral commercial system. Unfair barriers to exports from developing nations must be removed, for these nations are the ones that need to boost their trade the most. Further efforts are needed to facilitate the access of developing nations to modern, especially digital technology.

* The writer is an expert at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies.