Home  News Regional News Préval calls for new standard
|
Préval calls for new standard |
|
|
|
|
Monday, 06 October 2008 |
Addressing the General Assembly of the United Nations last Friday, President Rene Préval of Haiti told world leaders break “the paradigm of charity in our approach to international cooperation” and invest instead in helping poor countries develop their own potential through such steps as a genuine liberalization of trade.
Préval told the Assembly that charity has never helped any country escape from underdevelopment. He however, at the same time thanked the international community for its invaluable “surge” of sympathy in rushing assistance and aid to Haiti, which experienced devastating damages and loss of life after being impacted by four storms between August and September.
Agreeing with a sentiment that has been increasingly expressed by those seeking to initiate enduring development to Haiti, Préval told his international audience that if the international community wants to do something useful for Haiti then it should help Haitians realize their potential. He said that the work ethic of his people was strong, and noted that the Caribbean region’s original inhabitants, including Indians and Africans who were brought there as laborers “helped a good part of humankind build their present wealth.”
He emphasized that trade liberalization could help the world’s poor by giving them the chance to produce to meet larger markets. However, he called for such liberalization to be carried out “without hypocrisy or mystification” and on the basis of clear, transparent rules that are the same for all and which the powers that promote them are the first to respect.
Préval also called for in-depth UN reform to make the world body more efficient, more transparent and more democratic, declaring his support for the stand of Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto, who earlier this week said too many important decisions did not go through the 192-member Assembly, even though it is supposed to represent the peoples of the world, with its decisions often casually ignored. Préval stated that without such a reform the UN risks becoming an object of resentment for the less powerful, and a source of derision for the big powers.
|
|
|
|
