Asians seen bound to swallow bitter pill of \"good governance\"<\/p>\n
By Jan Kristiansen<\/p>\n
NICE, France (AFP): Western donor countries strongly hinted
\nhere this week that Asia's poorer nations face the prospect of
\naid flows drying up unless they commit themselves to \"good
\ngovernance.\"<\/p>\n
The idea was firmly put on record during the annual meeting of
\nthe Asian Development Bank (ADB), which ended here Thursday,
\ndespite firm opposition from China and widespread concern among
\nother poorer ADB members.<\/p>\n
Led by the United States, the donor community, working through
\nthe Paris-based Development Assistance Committee (DAC), adopted
\nthis notion as a basic condition for bilateral aid early in the
\n1990s.<\/p>\n
They have also put it on the agenda of other multilateral
\nfinancial institutions, including the World Bank and, less
\nexplicitly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF).<\/p>\n
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),
\nset up in 1991 to help formerly communist eastern Europe in the
\ntransition to a market-based economy, even had the political
\nrequirements of pluralistic democracy and respect for human
\nrights written into its constitution.<\/p>\n
Good governance figured among an 11-point list of conditions
\nset by the United States for going along with a 100 percent
\nincrease in the capital of the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
\nWestern officials said.<\/p>\n
The U.S.-led attempt to establish a formal link with the
\ncapital increase, to US$48 billion, which will be officially
\nannounced in two weeks, triggered a row between the donors and
\ndeveloping ADB members.<\/p>\n
The most vocal opposition came from China and India, and
\nwestern officials privately said they felt these and other ADB
\nmembers might have a variety of political reasons for rejecting
\nany linkage as an infringement on national sovereignty.<\/p>\n
China, for one, has been engaged in a lengthy dispute with the
\nU.S. administration over trade and human rights.<\/p>\n
Western officials nevertheless said they were confident the
\nissue would be sorted out, sooner or later, because most ADB
\nborrowers badly need whatever funds they can obtain through the
\nbank or its soft-loan wing, the Asian Development Fund (AFD).<\/p>\n
From the donors' point of view, deepening budget deficits
\nlinked with the recession in the West have made it harder to
\n\"sell\" development aid appropriations to their parliaments and
\ntaxpayers.<\/p>\n
Ole Loensmann Poulsen, Danish state secretary for foreign
\naffairs, said as the ADB's general debate wound up Thursday that
\nthe policy guidelines for using aid money were \"not irrelevant\"
\nfor Denmark, but were \"fundamental\" to its decision-making
\nprocess.<\/p>\n
In its broader definition, spelt out in the general debate by
\nthe Nordic countries while the U.S. omitted any reference to the
\nissue, good governance includes such sensitive elements as
\nrespect for human rights and democratic rule.<\/p>\n
It also includes such notions as fair, efficient and
\ntransparent public management, accountability towards the
\npopulation, controlling corruption and cutting \"excessive\"
\nmilitary spending.<\/p>\n
But the Danish official and other western speakers made it
\nclear that good governance, in the ADB context and elsewhere,
\nshould form part of \"policy dialogue\" with aid recipients aimed
\nat achieving sustainable development.<\/p>\n
It was not meant to be a doctrine \"imposed\" on countries badly
\nin need of external aid. \"We have repeatedly told them so,\" one
\nwestern official said.<\/p>\n
U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, omitting any
\nreference to good governance, told the meeting Wednesday it could
\nbe no coincidence that \"most ... rich nations are democratic
\nwhile most of the poor are not.\"<\/p>\n
Sri Lanka answered back on Thursday, arguing that
\ndemocratically elected governments in developing nations engaged
\nin a difficult economic restructuring process faced the threat of
\nbeing toppled by impatient voters unless their efforts receive
\nadequate support and \"encouragement.\"<\/p>\n
A flexible and pragmatic approach was therefore required, Sri
\nLanka's chief delegate Harold Herat argued.<\/p>",
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