Things have changed. The problem is that they have not changed nearly enough.
Things have changed. The problem is that they have not changed nearly enough.
In the run-up to the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, USA a press conference was held by Social Watch and Third World Network. The call was for greater social investment and more liquidity without policy conditionalities to deal with the current economic crisis in developing countries brought on by the financial crisis in developed countries.
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) – in alliance with the Global Community Reinvestment Coalition (GCRC), including partner organizations and citizen leaders in the UK, Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa, issued a call for the G-20 to commit itself to the creation of a financial system that is worth saving.
The two major South-based international civil society networks Social Watch and Third World Network have jointly called on G-20 leaders to address and pledge to greater social and development investment and to enact a more thorough restructuring of the international financial institutions (IFIs).
The Put People First G20 Counter Conference is one of two alternative G20 conferences being held simultaneously in London and St Andrews on November 7th to coincide with the G20 finance ministers meeting on 7th-8th November. The conference will take place at Westminster Central Hall, a fantastic venue right in the heart of London.
As we wade through a long line of international economic meetings – G20 ministers of finance last week, G20 heads of government in Pittsburgh coming up, IMF-World Bank governors meeting in Istanbul early October (and all the associated “deputies” meetings, where the real work goes on) – it seems fair to ask: where is regulatory reform of our financial system heading?
EU leaders are to gather on 17 September for an extra summit to decide Europe's position ahead of global talks on financial reform, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy pushing for bank managers to freeze their bonuses.
Put People First Campaigning Day: This autumn the G20 is back. On Friday 4 September, the G20 Finance Ministers are meeting in London to discuss the financial crisis, for the first time since April's G20 summit. So far they've flunked the challenge of putting people first in response to the financial crisis, preferring instead to patch up the old system that has led to global poverty, inequality and the threat of climate chaos.
The international financial architecture needs deep and lasting reform so that the causes of the current global recession are not repeated, and significant international efforts and funding are needed to stimulate developing-country economies and to support employment in those countries. These were some of the key recommendations that emerged from the two-day UNCTAD public symposium on the global economic crisis and development.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has removed all four countries from its blacklist of tax havens. The blacklist published last week included Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay. OECD chief Angel Gurria said in Paris that all four countries had now agreed to adopt its regulations.