The Hindu Business Line : Poverty eradication is the challenge for globalised world, says PM

THE central theme for the vast majority of the members of the United Nations is the challenge of development and eradication of poverty, said the Prime Minister,Dr Manmohan Singh, in his address to the General Assembly here this morning.

"Globalisation has undoubtedly brought enhanced effectiveness and efficiency in economies, integrated market places, higher standards of living and a revolution in global connectivity. But there is also the phenomenon of widening economic disparities, both within and among countries," Dr Singh remarked.

"Connectivity also means that people are painfully aware - in real time - of how far and how fast they are falling behind in their relative conditions of living. Development today is no longer a function of domestic resources and national policies alone. It is a process that is integrally linked to the international economic environment," the Prime Minister maintained.

Dr Singh called on the international community to find ways to "contracting" the circles of exclusion. "We need to find innovative resources of financing and access to technologies that are necessary to assist those who are on the margins of globalisation," he said making the point that just as prosperity cannot be sustained by being "walled in", poverty cannot be "banished" to some invisible periphery.

"Development must return to the centre of global discourse. We must evolve equitable and rule based regimes to manage global trade, investment flows and movement of services," he said.

The Prime Minister reminded the international community that four years ago at the Millennium Summit leaders had adopted ambitious global development goals "but have already fallen behind" in the implementation.

Dr Singh argued that while globalisation has generated challenges, it has also given the world new technologies to deal with the challenges. "The world faces looming pandemics such as HIV/AIDS but today it possesses remedies and skills that can rid the world of this scourge ...Many countries are beset by problems of hunger and malnutrition but we possess modern techniques of food production and processing to make a hunger-free world a credible and realistic world. Although our excessive dependence on hydrocarbons raises concerns about the long-term availability of energy, technology has made available environmentally sound alternatives," he pointed out.

"What we lack is a global concert and a mobilisation of the international community to overcome these challenges," Dr Singh remarked.