Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Rio Group on agenda item
92 (e) entitled "Financing of
development, including net transfer of resources between developing
and developed countries".
Mr. Chairman,
Consideration of this item by the General Assembly is very important
and timely in the context of economic
globalization. One of the main characteristics of that process is the
integration of financial markets, which poses
to Governments and the international community in general, new challenges
for the promotion of development
and social well being.
Indeed, the efforts of the Rio Group of countries to eliminate poverty
and satisfy the basic needs of their
populations have been affected by periodic international financial crises,
which have often given rise to negative
transfers of financial resources from our region to the developed countries.
Given the need of the Latin American and Caribbean region for sufficient
financial resources for development,
particularly inflows of foreign direct investment, we support all measures
conducive to ensure the creation of a
stable international financial system that could respond to the challenges
of development, especially in the
developing countries, an objective on which the General Assembly agreed
in its resolution 54/197. In this
regard, we welcome the useful report which the Secretary-General has
prepared for us this year and which is
supplemented by the reports of the regional economic commissions and
of UNCTAD.
The Rio Group is of the view that consideration of this item by the
General Assembly is essential to allow the
United Nations to fulfil its objective of promoting in the international
economic order and in particular, in the
international financial system, due consideration of the dimensions
of equity and social justice. This is
particularly important at a time when the international community is
debating the reform of the international
financial system.
Mr. Chairman,
The Heads of State and Government of the Río Group, in their
Declaration of Cartagena de Indias: A
commitment for the Millennium, adopted last June, paid special attention,
among other issues, to the reform of
the international financial system. In this sense, I would like to highlight
some of the aspects that constitute the
points of view of our region on this important matter:
1) External crisis prevention.
First of all, we believe that due to the extraordinary expansion of
the international financial markets, which is
characterized by the proliferation of its agents and instruments and
by the volatility of short-term capital flows,
efforts at the national, regional and global levels should focus on
the prevention of external crises.
At the national level, we agree on the importance of promoting responsible
macro-economic policies based on
solid public finances, prudent monetary policies and suitable exchange
regimes, in order to take advantage of
the benefits of an increasingly integrated international economy. This
will permit the achievement of stable
long-term growth, thereby reducing the vulnerability of the countries
of the region and helping to prevent both
external imbalances and fluctuations in production and employment.
2) Reform of the institutions responsible for the regulation of the
international financial system.
Secondly, the changes that have occurred in the global financial system
in recent years make it necessary to
reform the institutions responsible for its regulation. At the same
time, we propose that these institutions should
make additional efforts to disseminate and promote in all countries
the application of internationally accepted
standards in such areas as banking and financial supervision and regulation,
as twin pillars of the stability of
international financial markets.
3) Objectives of the strengthening of the international financial
architecture.
We also want to highlight that one of the key objectives of the strengthening
of the international financial
architecture should be the creation of a framework that is conducive
to the stability of financial and exchange
markets, and within which, in extreme situations, adequate financial
assistance is provided in a timely manner
as well as to countries that are in the process of adjusting their balance
of payments situation, which many
times have been caused by external factors.
We should not forget that the management of critical situations depends
on the availability and timely provision
of international liquidity to prevent the spread of financial crises
and reduce their negative impact.
International financial institutions should improve their credit facilities
through transparent, agreed upon and
non-discriminatory mechanisms that help countries in difficulty to return
to solvency and regain access to
international financial markets. We also urge the private financial
sector to play an active and constructive role
in the prevention and resolution of crises.
In particular, we propose to strengthen the international financial
system and at the same time further develop
regional and sub-regional financial institutions by taking advantage
of their comparative advantages, ensuring
more effective coordination of their activities and avoiding duplication
of functions.
Another objective of the renewed international financial system should
be the provision of a suitable
framework for access to long-term resources and technical assistance
for economic and social development as
well as provide financing for social and infrastructure projects. This
is necessary in order to reduce poverty,
raise the level of well being of our societies and strengthen support
policies and social security networks, with
a view to substantially improving living conditions in our region.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, the delegations of the countries members of
the Rio Group stand ready to work
together with you and with other delegations for this agenda item to
yield a resolution that would express the
consensus of the international community on the promotion of financing
for development, including appropriate
suggestions for the necessary reforms to the international financial
architecture.
In this connection, we are especially aware that this year, as in
the most recent past years, the debates and
resolutions on this item of the agenda represent a valuable contribution
to the consideration of the systemic
aspects of the provisional agenda of the high-level intergovernmental
and international event on the issue of
financing of development sponsored by the United Nations.
Thank you very much.
