Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : HARARE, ZIMBABWE
Tarikh/Date : 03/11/96
Tajuk/Title : THE INAUGURAL PLENARY OF THE SIXTH
G-15 SUMMIT ON BEHALF OF ASIAN
MEMBERS OF G-15
1. On behalf of the Asian member countries let me
thank the Government of Zimbabwe for giving us the
opportunity to meet in this beautiful city of
Harare. We thank also the people and the Government
for the warm reception and generous hospitality. I
must also thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the efforts
taken to ensure the success of this Summit.
2. All the three continents of the South are
undergoing transformation, structural change and
regional integration. Latin America is on its way
to experiencing an economic upturn. Asia is
resurgent and growing in economic strength at a
rapid pace. Much hope also attend the efforts for an
economic turnaround in Africa and we can look
forward to this continent of natural abundance
achieving its true potential. With this encouraging
prospect before us, Africa, Asia and Latin America
can seize the new opportunities available to us, in
the post Cold War era, making full use of extant and
emerging complementarities amongst us.
3. When the first G-15 Summit was convened in
Kuala Lumpur in 1990, many considered the South-
South cooperation a mere dream. Many were sceptical
of the prospect and ability of developing countries
to work with one another to achieve progress.
Clearly, our G-15 has proven the sceptics wrong.
The South-South cooperation is indeed possible and
viable.
4. In less than seven years, the G-15 has emerged
as an important catalyst in encouraging trans-
regional economic cooperation. It has spawned many
sectoral projects involving information exchange,
technical cooperation and institution building
leading to self-sustaining interaction in key areas
of technology and trade for the countries of the
South. We must, however, inject more vigour into
our participation in these projects. There is no
absolute necessity for full participation by all G-
15 member states but we need a critical mass of
interested countries from the three regions willing
to commit resources and energy for the success of
projects identified. We need to involve our
respective private sectors more actively so that
commercialisation will create its own momentum of
cooperation. The process must be dynamic and able
to address our needs. We must therefore gear up our
natural focal points to participate and provide the
lead.
5. Many amongst us have been very successful in
development planning and implementation, registering
in the process a wealth of information, knowledge
and expertise which can be shared with other
countries. The same can be said in the areas of
infrastructure development and management, science
and technology and human resources development.
These are areas that can promote and sustain South-
South Cooperation.
6. Malaysia is firmly committed to South-South
Cooperation. There are enormous potentials to be
tapped in the areas of trade and investment, science
and technology, human resources development and many
other fields. Malaysia has chosen to diversify its
economic partners, giving priority to the
development and promotion of two way trade relations
and investments in other developing countries. This
will benefit not only ourselves but also, we
believe, our trading partners, creating employment
and production possibilities which can facilitate
further increases in trade and other economic
activities. Increase in trade and investment
between the developing nations can be a real
bridge to effective South-South Cooperation.
7. Comparative advantage facilitates trade and
other exchanges but the competitive edge dictates
market share and wealth creation. The share of the
developing countries in global trade is small and
suffers stagnation, even a slight decline. Many
developing countries are increasingly not
competitive in the international market place, being
dependent on raw material export and low technology
goods and services. The rapid advancement in
science and technology in the developed world will
make many developing countries extremely vulnerable.
8. Cheaper labour cost is a form of competitive
advantage that most developing countries rely upon
out of necessity, but this has now been labelled as
an unfair advantage. `Social clauses' have been
promoted to govern international trade, which may
sound like concern for the welfare of the workers in
the developing countries but which will effectively
negate any competitive advantage that we may have.
The result must be to stifle economic activity,
reduce investments and production of goods and
services and consequently unemployment. How can we
believe that the `Social Clauses' have social
justice objectives when the net result is
unemployment and economic injustice?
9. Not enough with all these, we find one country
blatantly undermining the WTO by enacting in total
disregard for international norms, extra-territorial
laws to be submitted to by all nations and their
enterprises. We just cannot accept, and certainly
cannot submit to such unilateral measures of
coercion. We should take a firm position in
containing these measures which arrogantly disregard
the accepted norms and principles of international
trade and investment relations. Developing
countries must reject this challenge to their
sovereign right to be free to trade and invest
wherever they wish and which also threatens the
expansion of trade and development, globally.
10. `Globalisation' has become a buzz word, used
and misused by many to describe and encapsulate
several strands and trends of thought in the arena
of international economics specifically and
international relations generally. The use of this
term by the media to describe anything and
everything has created even more confusion. Many
meetings, whether of Heads of State or Government,
Ministers, corporate leaders or non-governmental
personalities have become global summits.
11. Still in many ways, the world is irreversibly
becoming a global market place. It is no longer
possible to contain international trade and
investment flows strictly on a bilateral basis
between one sovereign state and another.
Development in transport and information technology
will make production of goods more and more
dependent on the dynamic comparative advantage of
each country. The focus will no more be on finished
products, rather it will be on value added products.
Countries will be producing intermediate inputs for
the international market place. Trade in services
will also experience rapid growth, much higher than
that of manufacturing output. Export oriented
industrialisation strategies will likely become the
norm.
12. We must be prepared to enter the global market
place and become associated in one form or another
with regional economic groupings. It will become
even more important for developing countries to
cooperate to ensure their fair share of the global
trade. There could also be divisions among the G-7
nations as they begin to compete more and more with
one another. The bottom line is that developing
countries would need to stay united in the face of
new challenges in the global environment.
13. We should welcome globalisation if it means
recognition of global responsibilities. This
includes the strong helping the weak without
imposing all kinds of conditionalities.
14. Unfortunately, the reality has been quite
different. Globalisation has been used to
disadvantage developing countries. In the name of
globalisation, developing countries have been called
upon to account for many things, be it the
environment, labour standards, investment laws,
financial services or other development issues.
What the developing countries are expected to do is
nothing less than to adopt policies and criteria
determined by the developed countries without
consultation with and regard for the views of
developing countries. For countries which preach
democracy the approach used seem contrary to their
profession of faith in the ideals of democracy.
Whatever, the result of conforming on the part of
the developing countries would be to disadvantage
them and impoverish them further.
15. Continued cooperation among developing
countries is not only desirable but a necessity.
Towards this end the G-15 has a crucial role to
play. It can be a strong pressure group in
negotiations with the North. More importantly, it
can be the main agent for change in the developing
world especially in realising the potentials of the
developing countries themselves. Our Group has in
fact identified specific sectoral areas in trade,
industry, science and technology, education,
agriculture and commodities and even political
creeds where there should be greater cooperation.
Many of us have the expertise, technology and
resources which can be shared on joint venture basis
where specific enterprises can be developed for
mutual benefit. For example, cooperation in the
formation of an information network will facilitate
the expansion of trade and investment. Such a
network can be used by both the public and private
sectors in promoting and facilitating contracts by
their counterparts. If trade and investments
between the developing countries have not expanded
as fast as it should, the fault may not be the lack
of initiative or complementarity. The fault might
in fact be the lack of knowledge and information
about each other. The Malaysian Multimedia Super
Corridor project is geared towards addressing this
particular problem.
16. We may need to engage in some fresh thinking
about the international role of the G-15. The
future of the G-15 will depend to a large extent on
the support, commitment and vision of its members.
Many questions need to be answered.
17. Clearly, the plight of the developing countries
will not be addressed if it relies only on the
goodwill and generosity of the international
community. It is not possible to achieve economic
growth even if we succeed in establishing the
desired international principles for economic
relation. Developing countries would need to do more
on their own and amongst themselves particularly in
areas which are within their competence and
practical.
18. One specific area of focus is in providing the
institutional support for the work of the G-15. The
Group needs the services of a strong and well-
organised Technical Support Facility (TSF) to
achieve its objectives. The recent restructuring
will, hopefully, strengthen the Technical Support
Facility. We could give thought to establishing
written rules and regulations to govern the
functioning of the TSF if that would make it more
effective and efficient.
19. If the three continents can be joint venture
partners in prospering each other and in working for
a single global commonwealth of common and mutual
prosperity, clearly a new beginning will have been
made. Let us forever bury primeval and primordial
`beggar thy neighbour' reflexes. Let us put in
their place `prosper thy neighbour' impulses aimed
at ensuring that all our neighbours, far and near,
will prosper.
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