STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. ALI ALATAS, MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS, REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, AT THE TURNOVER CEREMONY OF THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA

New York, 12 January 1999

Your Excellency Mr. Secretary-General,
Your Excellency Mr. Clement J. Rohee, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana,
Your Excellency Mr. Gustave Speth,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

Let me begin by wishing you all as prosperous a New Year as still possible in these difficult times.

I should also like to seize this opportunity to express the highest appreciation of our Group to H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan, our distinguished Secretary-General, for gracing this occasion with his presence and for the tremendous support that he gave to the initiatives of our Group and to the cause of development during the past year.

May I also convey our gratitude to Mr. Gustave Speth, UNDP Administrator, and also H.E. Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, Chairman of the South Centre, for their valuable contributions to the work of the Group during that period.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

Today Indonesia concludes its tenure as Chairman of the Group of 77 and China. It has been a great privilege and honour for Indonesia to be entrusted with the awesome responsibility of coordinating the work of the Group during such a crucial and volatile year.

When Indonesia assumed the chairmanship of our Group a year ago, we were bracing ourselves against the fury of a financial and economic crisis that started out as Asian but eventually revealed itself as having a global character as its adverse effects spilled over to other continents. That crisis dealt a crushing blow to the developing world and to the cause of development. Some of the most dynamic developing economies saw their banking and corporate sectors brutally shaken to the point of near-collapse. Tens of millions were driven below the poverty line. The quality of life of entire populations suffered a sharp decline.

With the production of the crisis-affected countries sharply reduced and their capacity to import seriously damaged, global productivity and trade also substantially declined. This must have sent a strong message to the developed countries that if this economic storm were allowed to unleash its full fury, they, too, in the end, will sink with the rest of us in a global recession or even depression.

At the same time it has also become more widely understood that it is not globalization per se that is at the root of our troubles but the failure of the world community to manage this mighty force so that it would be a blessing to all humanity instead of favouring the strong and ravaging the weak. This failure of governance is the result of an economic doctrine that pervades international relations even today, the doctrine that prescribes unbridled liberalization as panacea for all economies developed and developing. In the rush to liberalize all markets, global imperatives such as international cooperation for development, non-commercial financial flows and differential treatment for developing countries have been neglected. In place of these imperatives, the international agenda has been dominated by the drive of the developed countries to create openings for their investments, money market flows and exports of their manufactures.

In the aftermath of tragedy new-found wisdom can sometimes emerge. In recent international forums, the developed countries have begun to share the advocacy of their developing country partners for an open, transparent and rules-based international financial regime. A new spirit of global cooperation could indeed come out of this crisis and I believe that it is opportune for our Group to intensify its advocacy for a global solidarity that will impart effective and fair governance to the workings of globalization.

We had an opportunity to do that during the first two-day High-level Dialogue on Strengthening International Cooperation for Development through Partnership last September. This was a significant first step towards a common understanding on how the international community should address the challenges and opportunities of globalization. We therefore welcome the subsequent UN General Assembly resolution that this important dialogue be held biennially. Indeed, it is altogether timely that the second dialogue should coincide with the Millennium Assembly and the Millennium Summit during which the world community will shape the format for international cooperation in the next millennium.

Moreover, the General Assembly has decided to include on the agenda for its 54th Session later this year an item on "Globalization and Interdependence."

Another momentous resolution to come out of the last session of the General Assembly is on the holding of a dialogue on issues related to the strengthening and reform of the international financial architecture. This global concern will also be addressed during the joint high-level dialogue between the Bretton Woods Institutions and the ECOSOC next spring.

We should therefore gird ourselves for an effective presentation of the positions of our Group on vital global economic issues in all of these forums and thus build on the work that we pursued during the previous year.

At the last session of the General Assembly, we provided important inputs for the high level working group preparing recommendations on financing for development for high level inter-governmental consideration. It is urgent that we follow up on that effort: in 1998, the level of ODA fell to a historic low of 0.22 percent of GDP as against the committed target of 0.7 percent.

On market access for the exports of developing countries, our Group stressed during the high-level segment of the substantive session of ECOSOC last July that in spite of the benefits of the Uruguay Round, there are still a large number of tariff and other traditional barriers standing in the way of these exports. We should therefore prepare ourselves for discussions on this issue at UNCTAD X in the year 2000. It may also be practical for us to create a mechanism that would impress on the WTO Ministerial Meeting in November 1999 the dire need of developing countries for technical assistance in their endeavours to comply with WTO requirements.

On environmental issues, our Group endeavoured to form a consensus during negotiations in the Sixth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development last year. However, we gained only limited success on some issues and much remains to be done.

Our Group also initiated two intensive brainstorming sessions on climate change and desertification. These were well ahead of the scheduled Fourth Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Second Session of the Conference of the Parties to Combat Desertification. As we did last year, we must continue to persuade the developed countries to fulfil their part in curbing emissions that could lead to cataclysmic climate change. We must call upon them again to meet their commitment to provide the resources necessary to combat desertification of vast areas in the developing world-to ensure the survival of future generations of humanity. The Global Mechanism that should have started operating at this time last year must be made operational without any more delay.

During the triennial policy review of the United Nations Operational Activities for Development, our Group successfully advocated for the maintenance of the universality, neutrality and multilateral orientation as well as the voluntary and grant nature of these activities. We also ensured that these activities will be strictly in accordance with the priorities and needs of the countries in which they are undertaken. To ensure that resources are available on a more predictable and continuous basis, our Group urged that follow-up be made on steps already taken for that purpose by the Executive Boards of the United Nations Funds and Programmes.

Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

The crisis has not diminished the determination of our Group to harness South-South cooperation as a way of solving many of our problems of development and as a strategy toward a global solidarity for development. In fact, our endeavours at South-South cooperation gained new momentum last year.

At the High-level Advisory Meeting on the South Summit held in Jakarta last August, our Group decided to hold the first South Summit in Havana in the year 2000. We do hope that in that Summit the developing world will be able to fully explore ways of promoting international cooperation for development in the context of globalization and liberalization.

At the High-level Conference on Sub-regional and Regional Economic Cooperation convened in Bali last December, our Group adopted the Bali Declaration and the Bali Plan of Action, which identified innovative strategies and concrete actions that we should now take to promote South-South cooperation between and among regional and sub-regional economic groupings.

Mr. Secretary-General,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me now take this opportunity to acknowledge that these initiatives could not have been carried out without the full support, cooperation and confidence of all members, for which we are deeply grateful. May I also thank the small but efficient staff in the Chairman's office who greatly helped in the day-to-day activities of the Group.

As I pass on the chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China to H.E. Mr. Clement J. Rohee, Foreign Minister of Guyana, I should like to congratulate him and to wish our Group a successful year under Guyana's guidance. Let me also assure all of you of Indonesia's continued total support for the work of our Group. Indeed, I do suggest that we make this auspicious moment an occasion for the renewal of our common resolve to make this world a more equitably prosperous one-a difficult task but surely a worthy goal.

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