Manuel urges compromise

2008-11-30 09:06

Doha - South Africa urged rich states and developing countries to reach a compromise on a draft document at a UN aid summit on Saturday, as the two sides squared off over reforming the Bretton Woods global financial system.

"The negotiations for the outcome document have been terribly slow," Trevor Manuel, South Africa's finance minister, said. "We need a text that speaks adequately to the changes that need to be made."

But Manuel also urged G77 countries, a group of more than 130 developing countries and China, to "acquire the spirit of compromise" and to reach an agreement in Doha.

The meeting, aimed at advancing UN goals on reducing extreme poverty, has been overshadowed by the financial crisis.

Developing countries, unhappy at paying a price for a financial morass they had no part in creating, are insisting the draft outcome document contain reference to a need for reform of Bretton Woods institutions such as the IMF and World Bank.

But some rich nations, whose top-level delegations did not attend the summit, think the language is too strong and want the issue set aside for a later date.

Other sticking points, according to two delegation chiefs in the talks who asked not to be identified, include a dispute over climate change with oil-producing countries unwilling to be locked in to commitments on renewable energy.

Expectations that the meeting, which runs until December 2, would advance the so-called Millennium goals on alleviating poverty have vanished and the focus has shifted to just retaining the aid and development promises made at another summit in Monterey, Mexico in 2002.

"We cannot allow this conference to end in failure," Manuel said. "We must sustain the consensus we reached in Monterey."

- Reuters