In think it is in the water people drink there:
The guy just arrive in Brazil and start talking non-sense
Worldwide inequality spreading: UN
June 13, 2004 - 4:05PM
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Despite efforts to decrease poverty around the globe, citizens of many developing countries haven't seen their lives get any better since the 1960s or are worse off than they were before, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said.
"The sad truth is that the world today is a much more unequal place than it was 40 years ago," Annan said on the eve of the 11th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
Annan said many developing countries have made progress raising life expectancy and lowering child mortality since UNCTAD was founded in 1964.
But he added: "Our challenge today is to consolidate those gains, while at the same time addressing the needs of those countries that have yet to advance or have even regressed."
UNCTAD's forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, opens Monday for representatives of 180 countries aiming to use trade to foster development and eradicate poverty. Annan spoke at a meeting of the Group of 77 (G77) developing countries, also founded in 1964, held in advance of the forum.
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Too many developing countries rely on commodities exports for their foreign currency earnings, leaving them vulnerable to volatile market swings, Annan said.
"Developing countries also suffer from a lack of access to markets of developed countries, and from other imbalances and injustices that have led you to raise questions about the basic fairness of the global trade regime," Annan told G77 delegates.
"All of this underscores the need for international development cooperation to be based on a true partnership between the developed and developing world," he added.
"Both groups of countries have responsibilities, and both should be held accountable." |
