"Lets tackle social inequality"-UNCTAD Secreatary-General

Story: Boahene Asamoah

THE Secretary-General of the United Nation’s Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Mr Supachai Panitchpakdi, has called on countries to tackle and address the issue of economic and social inequality brought about by globalisation.
“We must tackle poverty” and “reverse the trend of inequality,” Mr Panitchpakdi stated at the ongoing UNCTAD XII conference in Accra.
Contributing to a discussion on Enhancing Coherence at all Levels for Sustainable Economic Development and Poverty Reduction in Global Policy Making, including the contribution of regional approaches, Mr Panitchpakdi said globalisation had come to stay and “the least we can do is take care of the poor”.
He said there was growing disparity between the rich and poor and also increasing regional disparities in trade.
Mr Panitchpakdi suggested that while there was the need for sustainable growth, it was equally important to ensure the quality of growth that would ensure that resources were deployed to the productive sectors of the economy.
He said in most cases, some countries accepted investments that had led to the movement of resources from the productive sectors, stressing that “this is not the kind of investments we want”.
Mr Panitchpakdi, who touched on states and markets and the social conditions, stated that in many cases growth had led to child labour, which was not conducive to the entire communities.
The Secretary General questioned whether South-South co-operation would spur trade and investments that would ensure labour-intensive jobs.
Again, he asked whether the issues of Small and Medium Scale Enterprise (SMEs) support could work to improve trade and investments among countries.
Mr Panitchpakdi called for “ inclusive growth that will incorporate women and gender equality and ensure equal treatment”.
In her presentation, the President of Finland, Ms Tarjas Halomen, urged developing countries to respond positively to the globalisation phenomenon and not to give up on it.
She also called on women to be active participants in the development process to ensure the development of their respective countries.
Ms Halomen stated that it would be unwise to neglect gender issues in the economic development of any country and stated that women should be encouraged to participate in business and other economic activities to ensure that they benefited directly.
The Netherlands Minister of Development Co-operation, Mr Albert Koenders, observed that there was indeed increasingly inequalities with regards to globalisation.
He said African countries should take advantage of globalisation, especially in the agricultural sector, where it could generate a lot of employment opportunities for the continent.
“One needs to choose their own growth path,” Mr Koenders stated, adding that that was one of the surest ways to take advantage of globalisation.
The minister reiterated the need to build and strengthen regional blocs and trade, as well as enforce rules and regulations that would ensure the development of regional trade and investments.
Touching on trade liberalisation, he said the challenge was to develop comparative advantage and ensure global equitable integration.