President's proposal at NAM

The call by President Mahinda Rajapaksa for the setting up of an Emergency Financing Facility by NAM to meet emergency financial crises such as the current global economic meltdown hopefully would receive attention of the member countries.

There is certainly a justification for such a mechanism since it is the poor Third World countries that are reeling under the consequences of imprudent and avaricious policies of the West.

Besides, the current financial crisis is not of the making of poor Third World countries but that of the developed nations who had been exploiting their poor counterparts of the Third World. Thus, there is an urgent need for a powerful grouping such as NAM to work as a unit to make provisions for any future crises.

President Rajapaksa earlier called for the setting up of a SAARC Food Bank during the recent world food crisis to be drawn from by member countries during times of famine or an emergency.

Now he is seeking a similar mechanism to ward off a potential economic famine in poor Third World countries and has called for an unified effort by NAM to face the unfolding challenge.

The speech made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 15th Non-Aligned Summit was the first major International Forum addressed by him as the Head of State since the liberation of the country from terrorism.

While thanking the member countries for the support extended in the fight against terrorism, the President quickly moved onto address the most urgent issue affecting the member countries viz. the unfolding developments of the global financial meltdown and calling for collective action by NAM to confront the challenge.

The President made some pertinent observations why a group such as NAM should stay firm as a powerful entity. This is in the wake of attempts by the developed countries to make the Third World pay for every conceivable ill that has originated in these powerful countries. These pertains not just to the economic ills but also the consequence of environmental degradation in these powerful nations which is having dire consequences on the developing countries.

Highlighting the current scenario stemming from the fall out of the current economic meltdown the President said "the world is today confronted with a crisis that is essentially the creation of financial markets of certain developed countries. As a consequence of this, our development agenda is crippled, our industries are suffering from lack of confidence; and we face an externally induced liquidity shortfall".

He said "it is unfortunate that many countries who climbed the ladder of development, are adversely affected and even penalized in this manner due to the global financial crisis which was not of their own making....... the rescue packages currently being implemented seem to focus essentially on helping the economies of developed countries".

He then goes on to add " We believe in self help and solidarity which is the hallmarks of our movement as well. In this spirit I propose that we combine our substantial collective resources to establish an Emergency Funding Facility which could be accessed in situations of the current sort.

Just as the President said for too long global financial institutions have been dominated by traditional economies. There is therefore a strong case for the emergence of an alternative structure to stave off any adverse fall out from the pillage and manipulations of the powerful nations. But unity of NAM is paramount if these objectives are to be met. It was only recently such unity was displayed by NAM in the case of Sri Lanka when member countries voted to shoot down a resolution on alleged Human Rights violations against Sri Lanka at the UN. It is for such unity that the President spoke of in his stirring speech, if the developing countries are to break out of the shackles and be not just a voice that is heard only at the NAM forum, but also a power bloc that would stand up to the challenges of powerful nations.

The President also explained lucidly how even the Third World was forced to reap the consequences of rapid and indiscriminate industrialization. He said those who pollute our Planet and those who continue to pollute in disproportionate quantities should bear the burden in addressing the problem. He said they should address the threat of climate change but that this should not impinge on progress towards poverty alleviation and prosperity of the people of the Third World countries.

What the President said in no uncertain terms is that the developed countries were bent on passing the burden of their sins on their lesser counterparts who are being asked to make sacrifices on their behalf. Already, the Global warming has caused untold devastation with serious adverse implication to agriculture and fisheries which are the mainstay of poor developing economies.

Therefore, NAM, it is hoped would act with a sense of urgency to seriously consider the proposal put forward by President Rajapaksa and form itself into a powerful bloc to meet the emerging challenges on the lines of South - South unity and cooperation to counter the evil designs of the West.