GENEVA (ILO News) - Leaders from north and south, meeting in the wake of the United Nations international conference on trade and aid in Monterrey, Mexico, today urged the International Labour Organization's new World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization to seek ways of turning words into realities that would reduce poverty, expand economies and fight global uncertainty and despair.
At its first meeting, the 25-member World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization - established by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to promote dialogue on the global economy - heard appeals for action from its co-chairs, President Tarja Halonen of Finland and President Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania.
"The world stands in dire need of hope and I hope that this Commission will give the world the faith it needs to embrace the challenges of the new millennium with confidence and hope, not with uncertainty and despair," President Mkapa said. "We must give the world hope, for there is nothing as destabilising as fear and desperation."
In her opening comments, President Halonen said: "Globalization is here to stay and we, the world community, have to find ways to make globalization work for the people and be more beneficial to everybody."
Noting that she had just come from the United Nations Conference on Financing for Development held last week in Monterrey, where discussions on poverty reduction and international aid topped the agenda, she urged members of the Commission to seek ways of turning "words to reality" by making "practical, real world proposals and recommendations for the conduct of globalization."
In his opening comments, International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia, an ex officio Commission member, said "the creation of the Commission is a response to the needs of ordinary people and their families, as they struggle to cope with unprecedented changes which globalization has brought to their daily lives globalization." He said the meeting would provide an opportunity to "build consensus for action to expand the benefits of globalization."
The Commission's first meeting will focus on identifying key issues for making globalization sustainable and promoting the fair sharing of its benefits. The Commission has scheduled a series of meetings during the course of next year, after which it will submit a final report to the ILO Director-General.
The Commission members are Valentina Matvienko, the Russian deputy prime minister; Taizo Nishimuro, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Toshiba Corporation; Eveline Herfkens, Minister for Development Co-operation of the Netherlands; former Italian Premier Giuliano Amato; Joseph Stiglitz, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for Economics; Julio Maria Sanguinetti, former President of Uruguay; Ruth C.L. Cardoso, First lady of Brazil and President of that country's Community Solidarity Council; Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Vice Chair of the Rand Corporation and former US Secretary of Labour; Surin Pitsuwan, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand; Deepak Nayyar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Delhi and former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India; Hernando de Soto, author and President of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru; John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO; François Perigot, President of the International Organization of Employers and former Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Unilever, France; Heba Handousa of Egypt, Managing Director of the Economic Research Forum for the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey; Lu Mai, Secretary-General of the China Development Research Centre of the State Council; Victoria Tauli-Corpuz of the Philippines, the chair-rapporteur of the Board of Trustees of the UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Populations; Aminata D. Traore of Mali, author and Coordinator of the African Social Forum; Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker, scientist and German parliamentarian; and Zwelinzima Vavi, General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
Other ex officio members, serving together with Mr. Somavia, are the President of the ILO's Governing Body, Alain Ludovic Tou; Chairman of the Workers' Group, Lord Bill Brett; and Chairman of the Employers' Group, Daniel Funes de Rioja.
"Globalization can and should act as a powerful engine for growth, for international cooperation and for development," President Mkapa said. "But in turn it must conduce the kind of growth, cooperation and development that adequately rewards entrepreneurs, fairly rewards the workers that create wealth, fairly and sustainably serves communities, and ultimately prospers all nations, and stabilises the international community."
"Our role is to find ways to make globalization a well-organized and globally owned, shared and managed process," he said.
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