Singapore, Oct 14: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga added her voice today to the increasingly powerful movement of poor nations striving for economic equality, hitting out at rich countries for hypocrisy in the global trade system. Kumaratunga delivered a lecture to regional business leaders at the world economic forum's east Asia summit in Singapore focused on many of the themes that led to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO's) recent troubles.
"We do not wish to be dictated to. We wish to be active participants in the process of formulating policy," Kumaratunga said.
"Therefore the World Trade Organisation and world trade agenda will have to be renegotiated.
"The principles and underlying positions on trade must definitely be the same for the developed and developing nations."
Kumaratunga's comments come in the wake of last month's dramatic breakdown of WTO negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, in which poor nations gathered together to form the group of 22, or g-22, to challenge the rich countries on the fairness of globalisation.
Chief among the g-22's concerns was the issue of agricultural subsidies rich nations, primarily the United States, Japan and those from western Europe, give to their farmers.
Bureau Report