Globalisation not unfettered liberalisation of markets: Kamalnath

Bangalore, Jan 17: Globalisation cannot be linked to unfettered liberalisation of markets, but should ensure distribution of justice with reference to incremental growth, Union Commerce and Industries Minister Kamalnath said today.

Speaking at a special plenary on Globalisaion at the 13th CII Partnership Summit here, he said ''trade policies across the globe need to be tailored to achieve this objective, so that the index of world growth can rise simultaneously with the lowering of the index of economic disparity.'' He said Governments and multilateral agencies had a critical role in channelising economic growth in the right direction. Trade fora such as the World Trade Organisation need to dispel this well entrenched thought process of globalisation by looking at ''fair trade'' instead of ''free trade''.

Supporting the special and differential treatment being sought by developing countries and the least developing countries in the form of special products, special safeguard mechanisms, flexibilities, carve outs from main modalities and long implementation, Mr Kamalnath said this was an apt reflection of what a true economic global order should look like.

Referring to the impasse in the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations, he said the integration and participation of the developing countries, including vulnerable economies in the Round, would pave way for true fructification of the mandate that enshrined the goal of balanced regional development.

Mr Kamalnath said the key was not just to advocate globalisation for the developing nations, but to ensure that at the ground level incremental welfare gains from globalisation between developed and developing nations reached where they were needed most. ''We cannot wish away globalisation; the only realistic option is to manage it in such a way as to maximise the benefits and minimise the costs,'' he added.

He said globalisation was not just trade and invetment. It was also about peace, security and terrorism, and protection of environment and conservation of water and resources. There were also social, cultural, political and environmental aspects of globalisation as also the associated fall outs such as HIV/AIDS, avian flu, global warming or terrorism. Governments find themselves constrained in dealing with these cross-border threats, he added.

Mr Kamalnath said those prospering most from globalisation such as financial institutions and transnational corporations have imperialised developing nations in a way that had thwarted or even regressed the growth of some of the poorest of them. ''It is argued that these financial mercenaries have fed off the exploitation of developing nations and have compromised the delicate balance of economic harmony in the world market.

He said India as a melting point of social, cultural and economic heterogeneity had undertaken reforms intended to be pervasive and touching the roots of the most disadvantaged and under-developed regions of the country. ''This is what I term as the internal globalisation paradigm that is so critical to ensure that development is balanced and not just masked by islands of prosperity in an ocean of deprivation,'' he said, adding that the balance was ensured by a series of policy measures that included prudent fiscal, monetary and trade interventions.

UNI