World Bank chief says economic crisis remaking global power relations
In a speech ahead of the Annual Meetings in Istanbul, Turkey, of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Zoellick said leaders should reshape the multilateral system and forge a "responsible globalization" that would encourage balanced global growth and financial stability, embrace global efforts to counter climate change, and advance opportunity for the poorest.
"The old international economic order was struggling to keep up with change before the crisis," Zoellick told an audience at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies of the Johns Hopkins University, in Washington, D.C.
"Today's upheaval has revealed the stark gaps and compelling needs. It is time we caught up and moved ahead," he said.
In the speech entitled "After the Crisis?" Zoellick said "Peer review of a new Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth agreed at last week's G20 Summit is a good start, but it will require a new level of international cooperation and coordination, including a new willingness to take the findings of global monitoring seriously. Peer review will need to be peer pressure."
It was also important for the G20 to remember those countries not at the table.
"As agreed in Pittsburgh last week, the G20 should become the premier forum for international economic cooperation among the advanced industrialized countries and rising powers," said the World Bank chief. "But it cannot be a stand-alone committee. Nor can it ignore the voices of the over 160 countries left outside."
China's strong response during the economic crisis and rapid recovery had underscored its growing influence as a stabilizing force in today's global economy, he said.
But its leaders face challenges caused by rapid credit growth and the economy's dependence on exports, he added.
The United States had clearly been hit hard by the crisis. Its prospects depend on whether it will address large deficits, recover without inflation, and overhaul its financial system, according to Zoellick; Kazinform cites Xinhua.
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