West shuns Doha meeting amid financial crisis

Western leaders as well as the heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank will not attend a UN conference in Doha on financing for development as the developed world remains preoccupied with global financial turmoil.

The absence of key players may mean few if any commitments will be made on attaining UN goals of reducing poverty at a meeting set up to discuss ways to finance development through trade, aid and debt relief.

The financial crisis, which has prompted government bailouts in Europe and the United States and raised the spectre of a deep global recession, seems to have dampened the appetite for providing aid, angering developing countries and aid agencies.

"The lack of presence from heads of state does show that there's a lack of interest in rich countries to actually deal with this," said Sasja Bokkerink, head of Oxfam's delegation.

"All we can do this weekend is to give a loud cry to the world to say 'you should be here and you should be dealing with the problem of finding resources for development'," she told newswire Reuters.

The meeting runs from Nov. 29 to Dec. 2 in Qatar's capital and is unrelated to the World Trade Organisation's Doha round.

The only Western leader expected to attend is French president Nicolas Sarkozy. IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and World Bank president Robert Zoellick cited scheduling conflicts.

"Of course, we hoped that the more high level delegations would be represented, that might have been much better," Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, told reporters, noting that the Group of 20 rich nations and key developing states was represented by Sarkozy, who holds the presidency of the EU.

The UN aid groups fear the financial crisis will curb political will to deliver development dollars while providing a reason for some states to renege on previous commitments as they fight an economic downturn and rising unemployment at home.

That would leave poor countries to face the "tsunamis of the financial meltdown and economic recession", on top of existing development issues, one official said on Friday.

According to World Bank estimates, 40 million people will be dragged into poverty in 2009 as a result of the global financial crisis and related economic meltdown.

This month, the United Nations and its partners asked for a record $7 billion for humanitarian assistance projects in 2009.

A UN official said on Friday the credit crunch should not be used as an excuse to ignore the developing world, despite the economic pain being felt by wealthy nations.

"They have to make a sacrifice, after all we are not asking for charity," Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, a Nicaraguan diplomat and UN General Assembly president, told Reuters.

"People around the world are paying the consequences of erroneous decisions taken because of the greed of some of the most developed countries. The wealthy nations owe it to the poorer nations," he said.

With some developed nations already in the grip of recession - and others on the precipice - there are suggestions that emerging economies, such as the oil-producing Gulf Arab states as well as China and India, should play a bigger role.

UN officials hope the conference will harden up general commitments by donors in Monterrey, Mexico, in 2002.

However, early talks on a draft document had already run into difficulties, according to one Western government delegate.

"On specific and detailed things, I don't believe there will be agreement," added a Brazilian official who asked not to be identified.

"But in the general political context, all this participation can be useful. Lots of previous truths now have shown not to be the truth any more - free markets and self-regulation and all those things, they don't work any more." (Reuters)

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READERS' COMMENTS

Bail out?
Posted by Mike Diboll on Sunday 30 November 2008 at 12:56 UAE time


Contrary to the yarns spun in mush of the GCC press, "these people" have not asked "Middle East oil-rich" countries to "bail them out." Some countries, including GCC states and China have been urged by Western leaders ("those people") to increase their IMF subscriptions in the face of the current crisis. But the countries that are likely to benefit from IMF loans include Hungary, the Ukraine and South Korea, hardly "those people", and hardly the West seeking a "bail out" from the Middle East. China and Saudi have been urged to spend more, but this it to free up money supply; the idea of the West going cap in hand to the developing world is wishful thinking.

Western Aid- Doha Conference
Posted by GB, Dubai, UAE on Sunday 30 November 2008 at 10:44 UAE time

The absence of some of the biggest players in this arena shows what a materialistic world we have become. These people are asking the Middle East oil-rich countries to bail them out of a financial crisis bought about by their own unfettered spending, but shun aiding the countries from which they take raw materials to sustain their rich lifestyles and ignore the poverty therein. All countries should contribute to eradicate poverty and help each other to attain at least an acceptable standard of living where water, shelter, food and healthcare are a normal part of daily existence.

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