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Developing nations

deplore disguised

protectionism

WASHINGTON: Developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America complained on Sunday that rich industrialized nations were using environmental and human rights issues as a disguised form of protectionism.

Their protest was lodged in a statement issued by the G24 group of developing nations meeting prior to the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

"Ministers expressed serious concerns about the use of environmental, governance, human rights, labor standards or of other issues to further protectionist interests in industrial countries," the statement said.

Pakistan's Planning Commission deputy chairman Qazi Alimullah, who heads the G24, declined to single out which industrialized nations the group had in mind.

"What has happened is that there is a general tendency on the part of industrialized countries ... to raise questions about child labor, labor practices and human rights to create new barriers against international trade," he said.

The developing countries' forceful comment was prompted by a recent report on the role of multilateral development banks that showed a growing tendency for them to evaluate borrowers' domestic policies.

While the G24 said it supported the report in general, and particularly commended its emphasis on reducing poverty, the developing countries drew a line at agencies such as the World Bank meddling in their internal affairs.

"Ministers had reservations about whether the (banks) could be an appropiate source of policy advice in the areas of promoting good governance and civil society -- issues that fall within the jurisdiction of borrowing governments," the G24 said in its statement.

The group also stressed that conditions attached to loans should be directly relevant to the success of projects they fund, which in turn should be measured by objective criteria.

The report, commissioned last year by the Development Committee of the World Bank and the IMF, was released in March by a task force that included officials from G24 countries like India, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Brazil.

Among other proposals, it encouraged banks to back programs designed to reduce poverty, make governments more efficient and accountable, improve the management of natural resources and foster private sector development.

World Bank President James Wolfensohn on Saturday welcomed the report, saying its goals matched those of his agency.

The report highlighted the importance of "appropiate economic and social policies" to attain stability and growth.

It added that, as a first step to assess whether countries should be helped, banks should determine if they are "seriously interested, and capable of, promoting sustainable economic growth and a better life for their poor."

The report stressed that such a commitment does not necessarily depend on a country's form of government.

But it listed among the attributes of "good public sector policy" the rule of law, a government's accountability to its own people and effective measures to curb corruption.-Reuter