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May 11, 2008 ASIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS CALL FOR ASIANIZATION INSTEAD OF GLOBALIZATION Leaders of civil society organizations from Asian countries who recently gathered in Ortigas, Pasig City for The Asian Regional Consultation For The Follow-Up Monterrey Conference On Financing For Development will call on national governments in Asia to prioritize Asianization above Globalization in trade. Asian leaders from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, India, China, Vietnam and representatives of Social Watch International and the United Nations Development Programme converged in the conference organized by Social Watch Philippines and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), a political organization in Germany, to work together to provide an Asian platform that civil society organizations in Asia can present in the conference in Doha this September 2008. According to former National Treasurer and Social Watch Philippines lead convenor Leonor Briones, Asian civil society organizations believe that the Monterey consensus resulted to no firm commitments and many unresolved issues related to the status of middle income countries with huge populations. “The status of financing for development” at present has led to more urgent and even threatening challenges, especially in Asia where there is much challenge in issues on food and trade”, Briones said. She said that the four challenges in Financing for Development that Asian civil society organizations must face are the Asian food crisis, global warming, climate change and their impact on food production, sharp increases in the price of oil, and instabilities in the international financial system, e.g. interest rates and exchange rates. According to Roberto Bissio of Social Watch International based in Uruguay, unusual amount of aid committed during the Monterrey Conference, which was held only a few months the 9/11 attack in the U.S., the locomotives of growth have moved to Asia and the world economy has become less tied to the US economy. However, during the same period, poverty and hunger has gone up. Dr. Atiur Rahman, chairperson of the Unnayan Shamannay, said that Asian countries should work together to address their vulnerability to global trade. He emphasized that for Asian countries like Bangladesh, liberalization has caused more losses than gains especially for the marginalized sectors. The Asian leaders agreed that in order to address their vulnerability to trade liberalization, Asian nations should be more “Asianized” than “Globalized”. Their unified demands on trade are broaden social safety nets; mobilize and protect savings from remittances from migrant workers; make compensatory financing available to deal with external shocks such as the food crisis; explore regional cooperation on common commodities; explore solidarity economy within Asia; and promote creation of alternative development banks. They also agreed that developed Asian nations like India and China should take a leadership role and invest in Asia. China is now one of the providers of Official Development Assistance (ODA), at the same time, it receives ODA from the World Bank and Japan. As a recipient, China is now one of the world's main destinations for FDI. Much of the trade is conducted by foreign-invested companies based in China. As an investor, China exists not only in Asia but also in Africa, Europe and Latin America. According to Dr. Zhang Haibing, professor at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, China’s policy of integrating with the global economy became its success factor. Opening up is China’s long term basic national policy. The Chinese Government adheres to the “mutually beneficial win-for-all” opening strategy. Yet, the regional integration process which is slow and the social and political instability of some Asian countries also hinders regional cooperation. The Asian CSO leaders also warned of the effects of Aid to poor nations. According to Bissio, aid dependence is a result of globalization that took away the traditional sources of income for government such as taxes. Aid comes as a substitution, yet aid is not an efficient source to finance development because aid are unpredictable and dependent on the mood of the donor. The group will demand for an improved quality of ODA, which are more transparent and more participatory. They also believe that there should be an end to all conditionality and that assistance should be tailored fit to national priorities and demands. The aid should go to social services such as education and aid. They also call for more aid for civil society organizations who provide social development services. According to former National Economic Development Authority Director General Felipe Medalla, the lesson is the country institutions are extremely important. The institutions or bureaucracy should be sufficiently strong to resist political pressure and corruption. “The point to look at is project selection and project implementation. The quality of projects depends a lot on the kind of president the country has and the quality of cabinet she has and the extent that the cabinet are allowed to do their work. The only thing you have to ask is a good project chosen, are they properly priced, and are they properly implemented,” Medalla said. The Asian civil society leaders also agreed on international coordination on capital flight and tax evasion; transparency of banking institutions; harmonizing incentive system for foreign direct investments; raise tax efforts and decentralize it; need for participatory budgeting; and better budget allocation to benefit grassroots level. |