Debt

Urging for follow-up at the FfD - December 1, 2003

Washington DC,
December 1st 2003

Dear UN delegations active in the Second Committee;

We, the undersigned NGOs, are encouraged that the UN General Assembly Second Committee is taking the UN Financing for Development (FFD) process seriously by giving careful consideration to proposals made at the High Level Dialogue of the General Assembly (past October 29-30th, New York).

The Financing for Development conference meant an unprecedented effort to build a consensus among a broad set of stakeholders, including international organizations, civil society and the private sector, on means for financing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals. However, as some delegations noted during the High Level Dialogue, the Monterrey Consensus was never a finished product, but rather a point of departure. In fact, the credibility of the Financing for Development follow up process hinges upon its ability to build on the broad language of the Monterrey consensus to provide concrete proposals that effectively address the key issues that hinder the availability of resources for development in our time.

Speech on the Role of IFIs in Privatization - Commonwealth Foundation

Commonwealth Foundation
Brunei Darasalaam
July 22nd, 2003

The Role of IFIs
Pamela Foster
Halifax Initiative Coalition

I may have been asked to give this talk as I, among our Commonwealth colleagues, sit closest to Washington. As there is so much experience in the room in addressing issues of the World Bank and the IMF[1], I will merely start a list of all the ways that the IFIs are implicated in the relentless drive towards privatization of public assets.

First, I would like to quickly share two contextual comments regarding this push towards privatization. It must be situated within the drive towards the end of history, or the ultimate global supremacy of US-modeled capitalism. This victory was declared at the end of the Cold War. The end of history envisions the role of the state being limited to maintaining law and order and a sound investment climate.

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