Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0401/04012.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 18KB | 305 lines

$Unique_ID{COW04012}
$Pretitle{271}
$Title{Venezuela
International Cooperation on a New Basis of Shared Responsibility}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Carlos Andres Perez}
$Affiliation{President of the Republic of Venezuela}
$Subject{international
debt
countries
problem
political
solution
development
financial
solutions
group}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Country:     Venezuela
Book:        International Cooperation on a New Basis of Shared Responsibility
Author:      Carlos Andres Perez
Affiliation: President of the Republic of Venezuela
Date:        1989

International Cooperation on a New Basis of Shared Responsibility

A view from the South

Statement of H. E. Mr. Carlos Andres Perez, President of the Republic of
Venezuela, before the open session of the Group of 77, at the United Nations
New York, March 31st., 1989

     I am honoured to be here at the United Nations to address the Group of 77
and representatives of other member countries of this organization in order to
outline some ideas and views on one of the most acute problems facing the
nations of the Third World: the problem of the debt. I would like to express
appreciation to the permanent representative of Malaysia, for having, in his
capacity as chairman of the Group of 77, convened such a distinguished
gathering.

     It is, regrettably, only recently that the desirability and necessity of
talking this phenomenon in an internationally concerted fashioned with
political vision have been recognized. Sufficient political will still does
not exist. Conviction have been slow in coming. Despite the increasingly
tragic, dangerous and costly consequences of continually postponing action
that everyone recognizes as necessary, the international community still
cannot make up its mind to take it effectively, fairly and equitably.

     The actors, creditors and debtors, which share responsibility in the debt
phenomenon, have chosen over the years to shirk such responsibilities, to a
greater or lesser extent. This is the only way in which an unbiased observer
could describe the sorry spectacle of repeated denial and evasion of
obligations in which the creditor governments, the multilateral financial
institutions and the international banking community have engaged.

     The result, in spite of isolated efforts to devise and apply sketchy
solutions, has been that the problem persists on a scale that makes partial
repairs no longer feasible on the part of debtors and creditors or, on the
political level, of governments and international institutions.

     It is not without significance that the Group of 77 at its last year's
ministerial meeting, in New York, echoed in its declaration the concept of
"adjustment fatigue", recognized by international financial institutions, to
explain the state of discouragement in which debtor countries find themselves.

     We are thus faced with a problem which calls urgently for concerted
action and political understanding as prerequisites for a solution, both at
the level of creditors and debtors, as well as among creditors on the
international level.

     The United Nations has taken the decision, at the initiative of the Group
of 77, to seek a concerted solution through a global strategy. The
contribution of the organization in this regard is a useful one since its
universal approach places it in the broad framework of development. Such is
the spirit of Resolution 43/198, which also requests the Secretary-General,
through his personal efforts, "to contribute to a common understanding on a
solution to the external indebtedness of developing countries in the context
of their growth and development".

     In accordance with this mandate the Secretary-General has given me the
opportunity to express my profound concern and my ideas about how to solve
this very serious problem. In this regard, it is also appropriate to note the
far-reaching importance that should attached to the special session of the
United Nations General Assembly on International Economic Cooperation and
Development, to be held in 1990, with the aim of contributing to a concerted
approach by North and South.

     The developing countries have maintained that the problem of external
indebtedness, both in terms of its origins and consequences and from the point
of view of designing any solution that would set out to address its
fundamental causes, is indissolubly linked to the prevailing International
Economic Order. The imbalances that it tolerates and even fosters demand that
the principles and mechanisms on the basis of which it has been operating, in
a increasingly disjointed and contradictory manner, be thoroughly revised. It
is true that is no widespread conviction of the need for this, and that the
trend is rather toward a casuistical treatment of the problems, as long as the
costs of such an approach do not involve any significant chance in the
status-quo. In the meantime, it will continue to be necessary to take
emergency measures to resolve the debt problem on an urgent basis.

     The international community cannot disregard the impressive mass of
pronouncements and diagnoses that has been generated in recent years in
representative fora and institutions. These have been made public, with the
constant aim of promoting dialogue and democratic debate and achieving the
necessary understanding.

     In all its fora, whether formal or informal, technical or political,
Latin America has made a strenuous effort to come to grips with the problem.
No segment of our societies parties, parliaments, governments, universities,
trades unions, business associations, has failed to take a stand and to
demand, with every right, solutions that provide guarantees of stability and
progress; that will enable them to build on their achievements and
contributions to economic and social development and permit their national
societies to advance toward the ideal and the democratic undertaking that
binds them all together.

     No democratic government can run counter to its own raison d'etre. If
rectifying mistakes and correcting internal imbalanceswere all that was needed
for a lasting solution; if a country's own resources were sufficient; or if
its own policies and good will were enough, debt would not be an international
problem. To a large extent, the inability or unwillingness to work towards
concerted solutions with the degree of urgency that has become necessary is
causing the balances of domestic politics to be pushed to the extremes.
Radicalization as an option is gaining ground, and this is a symptom of
political unease and of destabilization.

     It is no longer simply a matter of restoring balances of payments or of
reducing fiscal deficits or curbing inflation. Nor is it any longer a question
of paying attention to banking system balances, share prices on the stock
markets or the distribution of dividends; nor of a taking corrective or
austerity measures imposed from without. The debtors countries have
demonstrated and are continuing to demonstrate that they are fully prepared to
shoulder their responsibilities, but we need the assurance that it will be
possible to boost development processes and attain to higher levels of
well-being and progress.

     At the same time, the adjustment process in our countries cannot be
reduced to the imposition of a simplistic restriction on the role of the
state. It should also involve thorough reform of the role of private business,
and of relations between the state and society as a whole. Moreover,
adjustment cannot be limited to a model of development that makes human beings
serve statistics. It should be properly understood that solutions without
social content are doomed to failure since the justification for economic
policies is meeting the essential needs of individuals and society as a whole.

     The parameters according to which multilateral organizations assess the
performance of developing countries should incorporate more comprehensive
development indices including, above all, the social aspects of