By Nihal Kaneira
Gulf News | 06-03-2004
Canada's new Prime Minister Paul
Martin is losing no time burnishing Canada's image as
a friend of the Third World, whether the countries are
in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, or Latin America.
Even as he prepared to dispatch
peace keeping troops to restore peace and order in
Haiti, Martin put Canada at the forefront of a major
new United Nations initiative for eradicating Third
World poverty.
The project, jointly prepared
for the purpose by Martin himself, and former Mexican
president Ernesto Zedillo, is designed to tap the
entrepreneurial spirit that is common and local in
most developing countries to make business work for
the poor.
It is a unique venture, which
the UN has billed as the "most ambitious anti-poverty
plan", aimed at bringing destitute people in these
Third World countries into the economic mainstream by
2015. It was launched by the UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan, in New York last Tuesday.
Martin and Zedillo expect to
achieve this through a series of big and small
measures. They range from tiny steps such as getting
the governments concerned to offer cheaper fees for
registering businesses to more concrete measures such
as liberalising financial and capital markets. They
see these as potential ways to unlock the private
sector in poorer countries.
Martin, who co-chairs the UN
Commission on the Private Sector and Development with
Zedillo, is passionate about the project, and, in
fact, volunteered two years ago, with his expertise as
a successful former finance minister of Canada and his
knowledge about Third World economies, to help the UN
find new ways of reaching its millennium goals.
He is convinced that millions of
jobs can be created this way for people who would
otherwise fall through the cracks and end up as the
dregs of their societies. The plan is titled
"Unleashing Entrepreneurship: Making Business Work for
the Poor."
According to Martin, one of the
keys to reform is to create partnerships between
governments, businesses, civil society organisations
and others to stimulate private enterprise.
He says entrepreneurship is on
display even in the world's poorest countries, mostly
at the village level, as people find ways to eke out a
living despite their difficult circumstances. Martin
sees this as a huge potential that could be harnessed
domestically if the UN can persuade the governments of
these countries to open up the economy and make the
regulatory environment stable.
"There is no one solution for
economic growth," he explains. "No one model fits all
countries, fits all situations. Nevertheless what most
developing countries do have in common is an
entrepreneurial spirit that is strong and is local."
Annan seems quite impressed with
the concept. While welcoming the Martin-Zedillo report
and its recommendations, he said the UN had so far
"only sporadically tapped the power that can be drawn
from engaging the private sector" in developing
countries.
He was particularly heartened
that the initiative is being backed by a plan of
action and a set of proposals, to be developed further
as catalysts for actions on the Commission's main
recommendations.
That "action plan" is being put
together by an eminent panel of 18 experts, which has
among them former US treasury secretary Robert Rubin,
and Canada's international expert Maurice Strong.
Their report is expected to be
tabled in early March, after which a desperately poor
country will be picked as the pilot project.
Martin-Zedillo recommendations will be put into
practice there initially.
The anti-poverty initiative
comes on the heel of another outreach by Martin – his
decision last month to help Iraqis re-build their
country by forgiving $750 million that Iraq owed
Canada.
"Debt reduction is critical if
we want the Iraqi people to have the opportunity to
build a free, stable and prosperous country," the
prime minister said, while announcing the decision.
Canada is erasing the debt through a programme called
the Paris Club, in which a group of creditor
governments from industrialised countries work with
debtor nations on re-structuring the debts that Iraq
owes them.
The final amount could be even
more than the $750 million because the debt to be
forgiven will be approved in tandem with all of Iraq's
major creditors.
Canada is moving to help Iraq in
other ways as well. Although, Ottawa opposed US
President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq
under former prime minister Jean Chretien, Martin is
working to repair the damage to the relationship with
its superpower neighbour by extending humanitarian aid
to Iraq.
Martin has re-affirmed that
Canada would provide up to $300-million in
humanitarian and re-construction assistance over the
next five years. "Our participation in Iraqi debt
relief is one more sign of our continued efforts to
ensure a brighter future for Iraqis," he says.
There's more. Canada is
reportedly working with the UN Secretary-General to
send Canadian experts to help Iraqis in a variety of
fields including the drafting of a new constitution
and revamping the judicial system and the courts
structure.
The UN anti-poverty project,
however, is dearer to Martin's heart, not only because
he has put together the initiative with Zedillo, but
also because it offers him an opportunity to be
closely involved in its implementation, being a
co-chair of the UN commission. He also sees
opportunities for Canada to strengthen its influence
as a middle power in the Third World.
As prime minister he is able to
follow through, put the weight of his office to secure
international co-operation and also commit Canada in
measurable ways to alleviate Third World poverty.
posted at:
aljazeera.info |