Helsinki Conference calls for action on managing globalisation

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Promises have been made, the means exist - now it is time to take action.
      This was the message that came out of Helsinki’s Finlandia Hall as 700 people from 79 countries pondered issues related to controlling the negative effects of globalisation at the final conference of the so-called Helsinki Process.
      The process was launched as a joint project by Finland and Tanzania in 2002.
      Speaking at the opening of the conference, former Irish President Mary Robinson said that she is tired of reports that never lead anywhere. Robinson is currently promoting a project that is aimed at a more ethical type of globalisation.
     
Opening the event on Thursday, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said that the aim of the Helsinki Process was to offer an arena for all parties to globalisation. The conference is giving voice to a broad range of speakers, from Third World activists to representatives of multinational companies.
      "If we are to take full advantage of globalisation, we must also accept that the new international actors, which have arisen as a result of globalisation - NGOs, multinational business, and civic movements - need to be included in international decision-making processes", the President said.
      Halonen also pointed out that nation-states remain the key actors in the international context, which is why they also have the main responsibility. She said that she was pleased, therefore, that the representatives of so many governments had come to the conference.
      "Don’t try to hide. I can see you", she said.
     
Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa, who has worked together with President Halonen on the Helsinki Process, noted that the governments of Western countries remember their promises only when their voters raise their voices.
      Therefore, he said that citizens and NGOs should speak up and demand action from their leaders.
      Quoting the rock star Bono, Mkapa emphasised that the means to eliminate poverty exist. All that is missing is the political will to use them.
     
Political will does seem to be in short supply. The United Nations Development Programme said this week that the UN’s goal of cutting extreme poverty in half by 2015 is not likely to be realised.
      Just as confused and confusing as globalisation itself is the wide range of organisations, institutions, and projects aimed at controlling it. So what could the Helsinki Process, which is funded by Finland, possibly add to this jungle of acronyms?
      "We are not re-inventing anything that has already been invented", said Mary Robinson, adding that inequality in the world has not decreased.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to take lower profile in globalisation project (5.9.2005)

Links:
  Opening remarks by President of the Republic Tarja Halonen at the Helsinki Conference on 8 September 2005
  Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy
  Helsinki Conference 2005 Mobilising Political Will

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