Ban discusses impact of global financial crisis on MDGs By Dharam Shourie

United Nations, Oct 24 (PTI) U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon held parlays with the U.N. Development Programme
(U.N.D.P.) chief and five other eminent economists to discuss
the impact of the global financial crisis on the agency's
efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (M.D.G.s).

The 90-minute meeting at U.N. Headquarters focused on
prospects for the world economy, and how the present financial
crisis will affect emerging economies and those of the least
developed countries (L.D.C.s), a U.N. spokesperson told
journalists.

After the meeting, Nobel laureate economist Joseph
Stiglitz backed Washington for expanding the scope of the meet
beyond G-7 industrialised countries to include developing
nations especially India, China and Brazil but said the venue
was wrong.

Talking to mediapersons, Stiglitz, who won Nobel prize in
2001 and is now Columbia University professor, said it would
have been better if meeting was organised at the U.N.
headquarters so that voices of all countries can be heard as
all 192-member States had been affected by the financial
crisis.

Ban who has been invited to the Nov 15 Summit will have
to represent the views of developing nations who would not be
there, Stiglitz said.

Stiglitz has been appointed by the president of the U.N.
General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann to chair a
high-level task force to review the global financial system.
The task force is expected to recommend, among other things,
how to reform the international financial institutions to
enable them to meet the challenges of the current century.

Meanwhile, U.N. officials are expressing concern that the
financial crisis might lead to cut in aid to the developing
nations which in turn could adversely impact M.D.G.s which aim
at eliminating or drastically reducing several economic and
social ills.

Diplomats say Ban is expected to press the rich to
fulfill their commitments to the developing countries,
something he has repeatedly emphasised.

Ban, U.N.D.P. Administrator Kemal Dervis and the
economists also discussed financing for development, the
international reserve system, trade, the regulatory role that
multilateral institutions can play and reforms of the existing
institutions.

The participating economists were Stiglitz, Kenneth
Rogoff of Harvard University; Dani Rodrik of the Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard; Nancy Birdsall, President of
the Centre for Global Development, a think tank; and Jeffrey
Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia.

The U.N. spokesperson said the November 15 meeting of
world leaders in Washington, convened by U.S. President George
W. Bush, was also discussed at talks, as was the upcoming
conference in Doha at the end of next month that will review
progress on financing for development.

Ban in a speech delivered earlier this week at Harvard,
said, "Now more than ever we must be bold. In these times of
crisis, when we are tempted to look inward, it is precisely
the time when we must move pursuit of the common good to the
top of the agenda."

"While recently we have heard much in this country about
how problems on Wall Street are affecting innocent people on
Main Street, we need to think more about those people around
the world with no streets," he added. PTI DS
DEP