Rx FOR CARTER: HEED THE POOR NATIONS
Jones, Brennon
Rx FOR CARTER' HEED THE POOR NA'rlONS BRENNON JONES New foreign policy initiatives are needed The North-South dialogue--the series of ongoing negotiations between the Northern industrialized...
...In contrast, and significantly for the future success of the commodity scheme, 16 European nations, plus Canada, countered the U.S.-U.K.-German statements with one of their own...
...They point BRENNoN JONES is a sta B associate at Bread ]or the WorM...
...sincerity and of whether the proposal was really aimed at the long-term problems of the poor countries hung over the conference...
...to the need for new U.S...
...Halvarde Bakke, Norwegian Minister of Commerce and Shipping, referred to the act "as merely an extension of his country's philosophy to establish a new world o r d e r . . , from which his country had a lot to gain, and nothing to lose...
...The frustration that the international economic system is rigged against them...
...While it was a new and possibly innovative proposal, it was designed primarily to assure rich countries access to poor-country resources...
...The developing countries are saying that the United States and other industrialized countries have been able to transfer much of their recession and oil-related problems on to the poor by controlling the price paid to the developing nations for their raw materials, while sticking them with exorbitantly high prices for the manufactured goods they buy from the industrialized nations_9 This argument is winning wider acceptance, and unless the United States makes a shift in its position, or comes up with a more convincing case for the equity of current international trade relations, it will continue to find itself with few allies for its defensive free market crusade...
...Algerian Ambassador Yakar captured the irony of a U.S...
...They show that westera imports from the OPEC countries will rise from the current 27 million barrels daily to as much as 37 million a day by 1985...
...Lesson 3: Moral leadership and lree market leadership are not the same thing...
...At Nairobi, Norway became the first industrialized country to commit itself to the developing nations' proposal for a Common Fund, and announced a $25 million cash contribution to it...
...In effect the rich countries index their manufactured exports, so as to make sure that the relationship between their exports and their imports does not change to their detriment...
...AN APPEAL--A Bombay social service center asks for used Christmas cards to help in such projects as medical aid, counseling, child guidance, obtaining jobs and rehabilitation for alcoholics...
...Even the conservative London Economist pointed t o the split that is widening between the industrialized countries, and suggested that the gradual shift by most European countries could have a persuasive influence on the dwindling numbers of hardliners like Germany and the United States...
...Witness the Peruvian Ambassador: "If cooperation won't work then we will have to do it ourselves...
...The common fund and Integrated Commodity Plan became the centerpiece of the Group of 77 proposals, and acceptance of it at Nairobi, even at the cost of insignificant progress being made on other crucial issues such as debt, transfer of resources and transfer of technology, came to determine the success or failure of the conference...
...But more important, at an OPEC meeting held in Indonesia concurrently with UNCTAD IV, they indicated that the success or failure of the crucial energy talks in Paris (at the Conference on International Economic Cooperation) would be linked to progress on negotiations for the integrated commodity program and common fund in the UNCTAD fornm--a persuasive reason for the rich countries to reconsider participation in the commodity scheme...
...This unity was articulated in the objectives of the Manila Declaration hammered out in the Philippines last February, and on which all the developing countries agree...
...What continues to bind this group of economically, politically and culturally diverse nations together...
...always be the first to advance a proposal...
...Acceptance of this rather loose consensus resolution by the United States, West Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom came only when it appeared as if the conference might break down completely in a deadlock...
...The Group of 77 (the developing countries, in...
...One indication of the EEC's willingness to listen to the concerns of the developing countries and to negotiate is last year's Lome Convention between the EEC and 46 African, caribbean and Pacific countries...
...presidential elections should have the reverse effect...
...delegation at Nairobi, reported on the conference to the Senate Committee on Finance that the United States "ran into trouble because we had not done our homework and because we had not tried to build consensus before formalizing our thinking . . . . The day is long past when any nation can attend a major international conference and with minimal advance preparation or consultation unveil a proposal and expect it to be adopted...
...The proposal received a cool reception from developed and developing nations alike...
...delegation during the month-long conference, nor was there adequate consultation with other nations prior to its unveiling...
...Personal criticisms of Secretary Kissinger's more liberal African policy (the cost for which Congress showed reluctance to approve) and continued infighting between the Treasury and State Departments over concessions to the poor made matters no better...
...While putting forward a number of fresh proposals individually, the industrialized countries came to UNCTAD IV with no common approach and little if any apparent prior consultation among themselves, Their unpreparedness was surprising in light of the opportunity they were afforded at an UNCTAD preparatory meeting held in Geneva two months before the Nairobi conference...
...7 Janum~ 1977:12...
...Lesson I: It does no good ]or the Northern industrialized nations to criticize the South ]or its "ill-conceived solutions'" if they lack common solutions of their own...
...Secondhand useful materials of all kinds may be shipped in packages weighing less than 6 pounds, labeled "Free Gifts of No Commercial Value" and sent Surface Mail...
...Five of them, including India, went even farther by setting dollar figures to:aling $141 million...
...One objective of the hastily called Puerto Rican economic summit meeting of rich nations in June was President Ford's attempt to bolster a collapsing common united front among the industrialized nations of the "North," to as one State Department official described it, "protect ourselves from ill-conceived solutions" of the South to international economic problems...
...position . . . it is not necessary that the U.S...
...The obvious demonstrations of this was Secretary Kissinger's proposal for an International Resources Bank (IRB), the centerpiece of U.S...
...presidential term approaches...
...Ronald Reagan was outgunning President Ford in a series of presidential primary elections...
...Failure of the U.S...
...At Nairobi, the OPEC countries signaled their willingness to make contributions to the common fund in the future...
...Events leading to final acceptance at Nairobi of a resolution for negotiation on the integrated commodity plan and common fund demonstrates Group of 77 solidarity...
...These lessons need airing, particularly as a new U.S...
...9 . . Our diplomats have continually placed too much emphasis on the U.S...
...cluding the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries OPEC, which actually now number 110 nations) came to UNCTAD IV with a carefully conceived set of proposals finalized at Manila in February, which had as its centerpiece the establishment of an integrated commodity program with a common fund to finance buffer stocks...
...The United States has continually underestimated the unity of both the non-off-producing nations and the OPEC countries, and of their support of each other in international forums...
...The question of U.S...
...According to this scheme, key commodities such as copper, tin and bauxite would be bought when prices fall, and accumulated stocks sold when prices rise, in order to eliminate violent price fluctuations and assure adequate supplies...
...retreat at UNCTAD IV because of short-range domestic politics in the nation's bicentennial year when he said, "U.S...
...The split among the rich that developed at UNCTAD shows that many are understanding of the poor...
...Recognizing that individually they are powerless, they have taken a collective bargaining approach, or "trade unionism" of the poor, out of which over the last several years has developed a common strategy...
...U.S...
...Features of the plan had been considered in the UNCTAD forum for several years...
...ability to provide long-range political and moral leadership...
...Only West Germany and Japan now share this perspective wholeheartedly...
...The agreement assures access of commodities, including agricultural products, to European markets with the EEC guaranteeing compensation for shortfalls in earnings of the developing countries due to price fluctuations...
...Two strong forces are at work here...
...delegation wasn't listening to the other nations because it was glued on events in the United States during the early days of the UNCTAD IV conference...
...In addition, the Group of 77 had specific proposals on other issues including debt and transfer of technology...
...policy constantly in flux and based on short-range political implications is a deterioration of the respect and confidence that other nations have in U.S...
...But the North responded with neither substantive proposals of its own nor any initial response to those of the deCommonweal: 9 veloping nations...
...Senator Abraham Ribicoff, one of the two Senators with the U.S...
...On the day that Secretary Kissinger proposed the International Resources Bank in Nairobi, the Christian Science Monitor reported from Washington, "Any money provided this bank (the IRB), holds the Office of Management and Budget, will have to mean a reduction in U.S...
...Social Service Center, SEVA NIKETAN, Sir J.J...
...proposals at Nairobi...
...The U.S...
...proposals at UNCTAD IV was due to an astounding lack of planning, of consultation with the representatives of other countries, and of sulBeient detail on its own key proposal...
...The power of the tactic can be gauged by the number of nations which decided to support the common fund over a three-month period...
...Two months later in Nairobi, the North was still ill-prepared to negotiate as a group, and conference progress was slowed as the industrialized nations belatedly attempted to reconcile their own diverse views before attempting to deal with the South's proposals...
...The common front strategy is in response to the South's solid negotiating wedge which has left the North split and in disarray during recent international conferences as many industrialized countries have forsaken United States hardline leadership in favor of more conciliatory stances toward the poor nations...
...The developing countries found this position paradoxical because the U.S...
...We also compensate the people in the wealthy countries for any loss they experienced through a transfer of wealth from their economies to the oil producers...
...Lesson 5- The United States must develop a coherent long-range policy toward the developing nations...
...Concentrating more effort on cooperation with them, and less on plotting their dissolution would be the best long-range tactic...
...Splits in the North are widening as this view becomes less reeoncilablewith that of the United States and West Germany, for instance, which praise the existing system while proposing what the developing countries consider cosmetic reforms...
...contributions to other international institutions . . . so it will not mean extra money for the poor nations...
...attempts to split them, and it shows that OPEC continues to throw its support behind the initiatives of the poor countries on international economic issues...
...So the administration became more reluctant to grant to the poor nations at UNCTAD concessions which would provide Reagan new ammunition against Ford...
...Thus the North's dependency on OPEC will increase, and the alliance between OPEC countries and poor countries has the potential of wielding considerable power in future negotiations over issues related to the establishment of a New International Economic Order...
...Resentment over the way the IRB proposal was tailored, as the key U.S...
...By the end of the Nairobi conference, seven European Economic Community countries and a total of 17 industrialized countries had shifted their positions to support it...
...And unlike the United States--which is not as resource-dependent and which issued a thinly veiled threat at Nairobi "that they could outlast any trade war"rathe EEC countries realize the necessity to avoid confrontation and potential breakdown in their relations with the developing nations...
...One French delegate said, "The IRB...
...Twenty-five developing nations backed words with cash by announcing their willingness to make contributions to the proposed $3 billion fund...
...We will have a common fund...
...That conference showed the eco-political shift which is occurring among many of the rich nations and provided a number of lessons as to why the United States is becoming increasingly isolated in international negotiations...
...The net effect of a U.S...
...Rx FOR CARTER' HEED THE POOR NA'rlONS BRENNON JONES New foreign policy initiatives are needed The North-South dialogue--the series of ongoing negotiations between the Northern industrialized countries and the Southern developing nations on trade, aid and financial issues concerning a new and more equitable internationaI economic ordermis not as two-sided as the name would imply...
...We must learn to listen more...
...The rich countries continue to rely on their former colonies for raw materials...
...leadership in international economic negotiations is deteriorating as increasing numbers of industrialized countries agree with the economic and moral arguments, expressed by Jamaican Ambassador Herbert Walker, that "to a great extent the poor remain poor because they are incapable of influencing the price 7 January 1977:10 mechanisms of the world...
...A major influence was readiness of the developing countries to "go it alone" if necessary...
...Even in this most recent recession, it is the developing countries that have had to bear a disproportionate burden...
...Reaching consensus is a lengthy process, as UNCTAD shows, and it is unlikely that the developing nations will readily accept the industrialized nations' proposals at future conferences if they are hammered out hastily and at the last moment...
...and that a wedge could be driven between the OPEC countries, sapping their "oil power" in international economic affairs...
...Lesson 6: The South is [~ecoming increasingly united...
...Pujol, S.J...
...Lesson 2: The industrialized countries have a variety ol individual relationships with the developing nations, and consensus among the North will become increasingly difficult...
...The United States has operated on two assumptions in recent years: that the South was too diverse to push a common line in international forums...
...Cor, ummweal: H Adequate information on how it would be operated, financed and administered was never provided by the U.S...
...The second force at work is a shift toward greater receptivity of the New International Economic Order proposals, particularly by most of the European Economic Community countries, due to historical colonial relationships and outright dependencies on the developing nations...
...Funds for the Bombay poor : Airmail (31r Address: J.O...
...Road, Bombay 400008, India...
...More industrialized countries are becoming convinced, as has Bakke's, that the "current economic system is not just to the developing countries and thus there is a need for a new order...
...Secretary of the Treasury Simon and Secretary of State Kissinger in a joint statement re-emphasized the litany heard throughout the conference from the U.S: delegation that "we have opposed mechanisms to fix prices or limit production by inter-governmental action...
...OPEC's role at UNCTAD and its solidarity with the non-oil-producing developing countries shows the failure of U.S...
...In March, at an UNCTAD preparatory meeting in Geneva, only two industrialized countries (Norway and the Netherlands) supported the common fund in principle...
...Was it just another case of the United States trying to sound generous to the poor without really spending much money...
...In the first half of 1974, the rich countries had an export deficit of $41 billion with the oil exporters and a surplus of $6 billion with non-oil producing poor nations, and yet only one year later managed to cancel out their $21 billion deficit with the oil exporters by a $21 billion surplus with the non-oil producing countries...
...Rather than rejecting progress with the poor countries at UNCTAD, willingness to negotiate on a new order should be the position they are anxious to take...
...internal economic system has long lived with trade unions, minimum wage standards and even farm support prices...
...Demonstration of this European willingness occurred on the final night of the Nairobi conference...
...They should put pressure on their fellows to keep open the lines of communications with the Third World, and to give something more than expressions of sympathy...
...It hailed the commodity resolution, which contains many of the Group of 77's proposals, as offering "prospects of a new and equitable" relationship between developed and developing countries...
...The first is the influence of the Nordic countries, which are the most convinced of the need for a more just international economic order, and are becoming a persuasive force upon their European neighbors...
...The third world has been hit harder in the current recession than anyone else," says the Economist...
...The United States, West Germany and the United Kingdom then diluted their support for the commodity resolution by issuing separate statements that they had committed themselves only to preparatory studies of the commodity scheme and not necessarily to participation in it...
...foreign policy initiatives more responsive to the poor nations...
...He attended the UNCTAD I V con]erence in Nairobi...
...Even if UNCTAD fails, we will continue...
...An agreemerit had been reached on the key issue of the integrated commodity program and the common fund, with a fixed timetable on consultations culminating in a negotiating conference by March 1977, and finalization of the commodity agreements no later than 1978...
...At no conference was the industrialized nations' inability to forge a common coherent policy toward the developing nations better demonstrated than at the Fourth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD IV) held in Nairobi, Kenya, last May...
...It merely confuses the issue...
...proposal at UNCTAD, but committing little additional financial assistance to the poor nations, and over its substance led to its rejection by a vote of 33-31 with 75 nations abstaining...
...At that time the Group of 77 tabled the Manila Declaration with its proposals for initial consideration by the industrialized nations...
...The IRB, a new international lending facility, would promote investments by private companies from the industrialized world for the development of new supplies of raw materials, particularly minerals in the developing countries...
...Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere hit on the injustice of this in his own country when he said in a speech to the Commonwealth nations, "Tanzania is not only paying the extra costs of the oil which Tanzania consumes...
...Secretary Kissinger recently released figures that might push him in this direction...
...Trade deficits for the non-oil producing poor nations nearly quadrupled from $9 billion in 1973 to $35 billion in 1975, and the poor nations put much of the blame on the trade patterns of the industrialized nations...
...The bicentennial image of the United States, at international conferences at least, is less one of aggressive moral leadership than of reactionary leadership for the free-market system...
...It did not address the central issue on the carefully prepared UNCTAD agenda: how to stabilize the "boom and bust" commodity price cycle so damaging to the development plans of the poor countries...
Vol. 104 • January 1977 • No. 1
