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Sri Lanka has called for a "New Development Chapter" which would reconcile progress in the world economy with the imperatives of development, and adequate safeguards against any negative aspects of globalization, Foreign Ministry sources said. The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lakshman Kiriella made this appeal, when he addressed the plenary session of the South Summit which concluded in Havana, Cuba last Friday, a Foreign Ministry Press release said. Addressing the first ever group of 77 and China, comprising 133 developing countries, Kiriella, who led the Sri Lanka delegation, conveyed the warm greetings and best wishes of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to President Fidel Castro Ruz and the people of Cuba for the success of the Conference. The Acting Foreign Minister while acknowledging that with the dawn of the new millennium most countries have accepted the trend towards globalization as a reality, regretted that most of the developing countries have not benefited by this process. Speaking on the new WTO system, Kiriella said that it even deprives the developing countries of the little latitude that they enjoyed under the GATT rules. According to him, it is now becoming evident that the Uruguay Round initiative were largely based on developed country priorities. He called for the adapting of the multilateral trading system in order to enable developing countries to play a greater role in this process. Referring to the need for South-South Co-operation, preferential and free trade agreements are "an intensive system of co-operation, which would cushion some of the effects of globalization and encourage both domesticand foreign investors" Kiriella said. He held out the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement which became operational in March this year, as an example of such an initiative. Sri Lanka is taking steps to conclude similar agreements with her other neighbours in South Asia, he said. The South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA) is a means of providing a framework for trade amongst the SAARC countries. He also highlighted Sri Lanka's active participation as a member of BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Co-operation), which links South Asia and South East Asia and IOR-ARC (Indian Ocean Rim - Association for Regional Co-operation). Elaborating on the formulation of what the former Secretary General of UNCTAD, Dr. Gamani Corea has termed as a "New Development Chapter", Kiriella called for the South to reconcile the needs of economic development in three special areas: firstly, the evolution of a world trading system, under the aegis of the WTO, taking account of the needs of developing countries; secondly, the modification and adaptation of development policies prescribed by multilateral financial institutions and thirdly, the revival of the North-South development dialogue. Kiriella recommended the creation of an institutional mechanism for the South, on the lines of the OECD, to formulate policies and provide an analytical underpinning for its agenda and platform. Emphasizing on the need for unity, the Acting Foreign Minister said the weakening of the economies of the developing countries has been a stumbling block for the South, which has disheartened us and sapped our bargaining power. "Unity is strength and the South must be heard in unison",he said. The three-day Summit opened on 12th April and was presided over by the Chairman of the Group of 77, the President of Nigeria, Ohsegun Obasanjo. President Fidel Castro Ruz of Cuba, as host of the Summit, President Thabo Mbeki, in his capacity as Chairman of NAM and the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan addressed the impressive inaugural ceremony.
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