Environment ploy by rich countries
WASHINGTON, Sun. —Many rich countries are using environmental concerns as an excuse to set up protectionist barriers against products from poorer countries, a top development official said yesterday.
Alejandro Foxley, chairman of the joint ministerial development committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, said there was an urgent need for a new set of clear-cut rules to address the issue.
"There is confusion between a legitimate environmental demand regarding the quality of products circulating in the developed countries and a pretext for protectionism, for blocking the entry of products to their markets," he said.
Foxley, Chile’s Finance Minister, told journalists that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade should set up clear-cut rules differentiating between the two.
He said both rich and poor countries should have a say in the writing of the rules and that they should in-dude a phase-in period to allow poorer countries to adjust.
Under present circumstances, when rich countries detect what he called an environmental problem such as rain-forest wood used in fruit boxes, or pesticides in agricultural produce, they immediately clamp sanctions effectively shutting out those countries’ products from their markets, he complained.
Foxley also said that by the latest World Bank estimates, the developing countries as a group would need some US$25 billion ($65b) in assistance over the next decade to improve the quality of life in the cities.
The group of 22 finance ministers from around the world that Foxley chairs will discuss over the next few days not only how much money should be channeled for that purpose, but also how it will be administered, he said.
The group will issue recommendations to improve transportation, drinking water, air and sewer systems to the Earth summit which will bring together more than 100 heads of state and Government next June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
While much attention is being paid these days to the protection of the world’s rain-forest and the ozone layer, few are focusing on quality of life in Third World cities, an issue directly related to widespread poverty, he said.
Diarrhea kills five million children a year in the developing world and 1.2 billion people live in polluted cities, while cholera is spreading in Latin America.
"The collapse of urban systems has built a bridge linking the phenomena of poverty and misery with violence and insecurity," he said..
Foxley said the committee would discuss how best to channel funds to improve the quality of life. The idea that aid comes in the form of soft loans to the poorer countries would deny such assistance for middle-income countries like Chile, he said.
Disasters such as the gas blast that earlier this week killed some 230 people in Guadalajara, Mexico, reveal the urgent need to devote more resources to social or infrastructural projects in Third World urban areas, he. said.
"The cities of our countries are prone to this kind of disaster," Foxley said.
He said a worldwide trend towards reducing the role of the state in the economy has created an "ideological bias" against Government participation in programmes. — Reuter
Source : The Straits Times, April 27, 1992
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