By Thalif Deen

Jamaican Prime Minister Percival Patterson, who chairs the Group of 77 developing nations, arrived in the Qatari capital with a message to the industrial North. "We must enlarge the dialogue between (developing nations) of the South and (rich nations) of the North," he told delegates on the opening day of the South Summit of third world leaders in Doha Wednesday. Patterson said that while the world's 132 developing nations were meeting in Qatar, the Group of Eight (G8) -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, Japan and Russia -- was getting ready for its own summit in Scotland next month.

"We always meet separately," Patterson complained. "What is the reason why we can never meet together for a common dialogue?" he asked. The two day summit Jun. 15-16, which is being hosted by the Qatari government, is sponsored by the 132-member Group of 77 (G77), the largest single coalition of developing nations. Speaking on behalf of the G77, Patterson said: "On our side, we are ready and willing to engage in such an encounter for global partnership and cooperation. We are ready to participate in strengthening a global system which works for the benefit of all, and we are ready to do it now." But according to one G77 delegate here, the G8 has traditionally refused to invite developing nations into its inner circle of decision-making -- except for a select few, and only as "observers" at its annual meetings.

And last year, the United States, which hosted the G8 summit in the state of Georgia, refused to invite Qatar, then chairman of the G77, because it ignored a U.S. request to crack down on the Doha-based Arab television network Al-Jazeera for its aggressive reporting of civilian killings in Iraq. Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was equally critical of the G8. "In a few weeks," he said, "the eight richest and most economically dominant countries would be holding their annual summit."

"They will be looking at many of the same issues that we are concerned about," he said, pointing out that they may make decisions "which will impact upon the September Millennium Summit" mandated to review the progress made in the global fight against poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease. Badawi said the "G8 has much influence on world affairs...On the contrary, the decisions we make (at the South Summit) may not be heeded. But this time, we must change the situation."

"We must ensure that decisions we take be heard, and be reckoned with. We must find common ground with them to address all the issues important to all of us, including development, peace and security, rule of law and human rights. Patterson, who took a passing shot at the United States, said that "it is a political oxymoron to advocate the spread of democracy within our national borders while seeking to entrench autocracy within the international system."

The administration of President George W. Bush has remained gung-ho over its proposed policy of turning the entire Middle East -- beginning with Iraq -- into U.S.-style multi-party democracies.But Patterson argued that nowhere are democratic reforms and distribution of equitable voting rights more necessary than in international institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- where rich nations wield more voting powers than developing nations -- and also at the United Nations where the five big powers, namely the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, wield veto powers. And so, he said, the call for reform "should also be heard in the halls of those institutions which exercise such a dominant influence over our daily lives."

Badawi said that the meeting in Doha was a pivotal moment in the history of multilateralism. A few months from now, he said, world leaders will meet at the Millennium Summit in New York where the restructuring of the United Nations will be high on the agenda. "The future lies in a strong a robust multilateral system, based upon the principles of international law."

The Bush administration, which has virtually abandoned multilateralism in favour of unilateralism, was criticised by Cuban President Fidel Castro who sent a special message to the summit. "Every day, we are fed with the rhetorical discourse of free trade, but the duties which the United States imposes on imports from the Third World are 20 times steeper than those applied to imports from developed countries," he said. Castro said that every year rich countries spend about 300 billion dollars to subsidise agricultural production that muscles Southern countries out of the market, while they hypocritically talk about free trade, he added.

In the unregulated financial market, he pointed out; aggressive speculation on the exchange rate of currencies is commonplace. "Our countries are asked to be transparent with financial information while speculators hide behind a veil of secrecy. Risk assessment agencies threaten our countries with negative evaluations after rewarding U.S. companies that announce fraudulent bankruptcies," he said.

Although there are enormous challenges of poverty and injustice in today's world, he said, Bush proclaims his right to wage pre-emptive wars on 60 or more countries. "He manipulates the United Nations declaring its charter obsolete, and showing contempt for international law. He makes a repugnant mockery of the sovereign equality of states," Castro added.

Speaking on behalf of the 25-member European Union, the Minister for Development Cooperation of Luxembourg Jean-Louis Schiltz said between now and 2010, EU and its member states will carry their level of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.56 percent of their gross national income (GNI). This means an additional 25 billion dollars devoted to development.The EU and its member states have also committed themselves to reaching an ODA threshold of 0.7 percent of their GNI until 2015, which is the deadline for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, including the elimination of extreme poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease.

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