Bid to revamp global "casino economy" blocked at UN talks

[Seth Ackerman]

Yahoo! Asia - News	
Tuesday, February 15 4:58 PM SGT 
Bid to revamp global "casino economy" blocked at UN talks
BANGKOK, Feb 15 (AFP) - 
Demands for radical change to the global financial system, slammed as a
"casino economy" by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) chief at UN
talks Tuesday, are being blocked by developed nations, officials said.
ILO director-general Juan Somavia warned of a popular revolt against
globalisation if it continued to benefit only the rich.
"I would like to see the international organizations dealing with financial
matters giving much more importance to productive capital that produces
goods, creates jobs, etc., than to a casino economy that has financial flows
moving all over the place," he told the UN Conference on Trade and
Development here.
"If we're going to make markets work for everybody, we have to give some
support to productive capital." 
The world financial architecture has come in for a beating at the UNCTAD
meet, where developing nations have demanded a more lucrative slice of the
new economy.
But hopes UNCTAD would forge agreement on an overhaul have been shaken by
stiff resistance from developed countries, officials said Tuesday.
Negotiations on a draft plan of action are already stalled over opposition
to European Union agriculture subsidies which UNCTAD secretary-general
Rubens Ricupero charged were "destroying" poor economies.
And the committee drafting the plan is now split on a proposal that "UNCTAD
should contribute to injecting a developmental perspective in the evolution
of a new financial order," said UNCTAD spokesman Habib Ouane.
Ouane said industrialised countries are "less agreeable to the article,"
which addresses concerns thrown up by the mid-1997 financial crisis in
emerging markets.
Although UNCTAD does not have the power to enforce the draft document, the
final copy would have the signatures of ministers of the world's top seven
industrialized nations whose leaders will be meeting in Tokyo later this
year.
Ouane said UNCTAD believes "the reliance of market access alone will not
help alleviate the problems which these countries are facing."
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and even International Monetary Fund chief
Michel Camdessus have endorsed a drive for a "New Deal" for the developing
world at this week's talks in the Thai capital.
Opening the conference on Saturday, Annan appeared to be trying to shame the
world's economic superpowers into making concessions to less well-off
neighbours, accusing them of standing in the way of poor nations as they
struggle to develop their economies.
The attack was pressed home by Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad,
who admitted he was a "recalcitrant and a heretic" on globalisation.
"Frankly speaking, I'm frightened and worried by preparations being made by
certain corporations in order to take advantage of liberalisation and
globalisation," he said.
On Sunday, Camdessus recommended developing nations be given a chance to
help create a new financial architecture by alternating the annual summit of
the world's rich nations with a larger, more representative meeting.