From khiltsley@iatp.org Tue Oct 20 10:21:15 1998 Received: from mxu2.u.washington.edu (mxu2.u.washington.edu [140.142.32.9]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW98.06) with ESMTP id KAA24638 for ; Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:21:15 -0700 Received: from mail.iatp.org (iatp-2.InnovSoftD.com [208.141.36.66]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.9.1+UW98.09/8.9.1+UW98.09) with ESMTP id KAA17083 for ; Tue, 20 Oct 1998 10:21:14 -0700 Received: from Kathybert.iatp.org ([208.141.36.84]) by mail.iatp.org (Netscape Messaging Server 3.52) with SMTP id 513; Tue, 20 Oct 1998 12:26:01 -0500 Message-Id: <3.0.5.32.19981020122142.00815e20@iatp.org> X-Sender: khiltsley@iatp.org X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0.5 (32) Date: Tue, 20 Oct 1998 12:21:42 -0500 To: kathy@iatp.org From: "Kathleen Hiltsley" Subject: Review on the global financial architecture Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Dear friends, Friends of the Earth US is asking groups to sign on to the following letter, which is addressed to the G-22 and deals with the timeframe for a review on the "global financial architecture." Please send signatures, questions and comments to Carol Welch of Friends of the Earth: . Best wishes, Kristin Dawkins > > October 26, 1998 > >To the Group of 22 Secretariat: > > The global economic crisis that has unfolded in the past year in >Asia, Russia, and now Brazil, has underscored the need to reform the >"global financial architecture." It is also clear that financial crises >have significant spillover effects and serious negative ramifications on >major sectors of society, including the poor, workers, women, and the >environment. It is therefore important that non-governmental >organizations (NGOs) and civil society have an opportunity to influence >the proposals for a new global financial architecture. > > The undersigned x non-governmental organizations (NGOs), from x >countries around the world, wish to express our concern with the current >process by which the Group of 22 (G-22) nations has set about reforming >the global financial architecture. We urge these countries to enable >civil society participation in the reform of the global economic system. > > While we appreciate the fact that the three G-22 working group >papers have made publicly available and are posted on the Internet, the >timeframe for comment on the reports is inadequate. The process of >reforming the global financial architecture is a complex task, and will >require detailed thinking about the full range of proposals. With the >reports only recently released, a deadline of end October 1998 does not >provide enough time for NGOs and other representatives of civil society to >comment on the content of the reports. We urge you to extend the deadline >to end December 1998. > > In addition, the secretive and exclusive nature of the membership >of the G-22 "systemically significant economies" also raises concerns. >While the six chairs of the working groups are listed on the October 2, >1998 cover letter to the reports, the makeup of the rest of the group and >who they represent is not immediately clear. It is very difficult to >influence the process when the countries and authorities involved are not >up front about their participation. Furthermore, the undemocratic >representation of the group is a serious problem. In particular, the >absence of poor country representation must be remedied. > > We strongly urge you to extend the timeframe for comment and to >proactively engage and consult with civil society throughout the world in >the design of the new global financial architecture. > > > Sincerely, > > > >Carol Welch International Policy Analyst Friends of the Earth 202-783-7400 >x. 237 > > > ------------------------------------------ Kristin Dawkins Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 2105 First Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404 USA Central tel: (612) 870-0453 Direct tel: (612) 870-3410 Fax: (612) 870-4846 mailto:kdawkins@iatp.org URL: http://www.iatp.org Kathy Hiltsley Program Assistant Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy 2105 1st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55404 Direct Phone: 612-870-3455 IATP Ph. 612-870-0453 IATP fax. 612-870-4846 http://www.iatp.org email:khiltsley@iatp.org .