Asean Crises Lends Currency To G-15

The Group of 15 (G-15), threatened with marginalisation after the end of the Cold War, has reaffirmed its commitment to promoting the interests of the developing world at what delegates called a lamark summit.

Officials attending the three-day meeting that ended yesterday said currency turmoil and trade worries had helped breathe new life into a group that spans three continents. This was a turning point in the G-15, a delegate said.

The G-15 members are Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Kenya joined the group this week. Plagued by low attendance at their annual summits, the leaders were presented with a proposal to meet less often. Only six leaders attended this weeks summit.

 

Instead, they decided to move up their next gathering to May 1998 and meet more often. Reuter

The summit, held in the Malaysian capital, site of the first meeting in 1990, was devoted largely to introspection.

The seventh summit has thus afforded us with the opportunity to examine not only our achievements of the past years, but also to critically look at the goals and objectives that we have been unable to meet, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said.

The G-15, formed at the end of the Cold War, has seen its focus shift decidedly away from politics towards economics.

A self-styled foil to the Group of Seven industrialised countries, it saw its cohesiveness undercut by Latin Americas interest in regional integration, delegates said.

Latin America was meant to be the original engine for the G-15 as it was the region that liberalised earlier and had stable leadership, one official said. But its interest in recent years in regional integration including trade with the United States has distracted it.

With the completion of the North American Free Trade Agreement and the emergence of a new set of trade and economic problems, the G-15 has found a new lease on life, delegates said.

International economic and political events of the past year, in particular, have given us further evidence of the fact that the G-15 original objectives, more than ever, not only remain relevant but have in fact regained renewed importance, Mahathir said in his concluding statement to G-15 leaders.

G-15 trade and economic ministers agreed to gather before the World Trade Organisations ministerial meeting next May. The group had staked out common positions on financial services and labour standards at a WTO ministerial in Singapore last year.

The leaders approved guidelines to ensure that joint projects, many in business, are implemented. There had been criticism that earlier projects had collected dust.

The meeting has taken a very important step in deciding that the summit should meet more often and at a time more convenient for the heads of states and governments to be present, Mahathir said. Instead of meeting next November, leaders will gather in Cairo in May.

Concerned over the currency turmoil that has rocked Southeast Asia, the G-15 ordered their finance ministers to meet in early December to draw up a plan to avert future crises.

The currency problem is one manifestation of our shared concern over inequities in the world economic order, a delegate said. There is a sense that after our many efforts to play like a good boy, the ground has again been cut from under us.

But there was no desire to cross swords with the industrialised North. We are speaking the language of cooperation, not confrontation, an official said.

While it was too early to tell whether the G-15s renewed commitment would produce results, delegates said there was a shared sense of purpose.

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori delivered a plea during a closed-door meeting for a stronger G-15, officials said.

The message coming out is that this is a body that is alive and kicking, an official said.