ADB meeting opens with row over "cultural imperialism"
ADB meeting opens with row over "cultural imperialism"
NICE, France (AFP): The Asian Development Bank opened its annual meeting yesterday with a bitter row between donors and borrowers that has led developing nations to describe loan conditions as attempts at "cultural imperialism."
The ADB annual meeting -- a financial jamboree being held for the first time on this continent -- opened under a springtime sky in this French Riviera playground amid a raging debate between donors, led by the United States, and borrowers over proposed new lending conditions.
The 55 ADB member nations are expected to formalize a 100- percent general capital increase to US$48 billion by May 22 but have yet to resolve a row over donor demands for greater transparency and accountability in borrowing countries, under the hazy label "good governance."
The new conditionality has been denounced as "cultural imperialism" by borrowers, led by China and India, who nevertheless are looking to the increase to meet growing needs in the face of shrinking development aid.
French Prime Minister Edouard Balladur opened the meeting, calling for intensified economic and political ties between Asia and Europe.
"I strongly hope that links will be developed with Europe in all areas which, in comparison with the level of relations between Asia and North America, still remain insufficient," he said.
"For both sides the stakes are considerable," he said, stressing the need to cooperate on security and stability and to exploit the "economic complementarities" between Asia and the European Union.
Shattering
He cited the political dialogue between Europe and the six Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member nations, the driving force promoting a permanent security forum in Asia, where lingering territorial tensions threaten to shatter the peace.
Balladur also paid tribute to "pragmatism" in Asian societies, saying Europe had "much to learn" from them, adding that they showed that in developing countries, the state has a mission to "guide" development without hindering private initiative.
Bank officials say the debate on conditionality is expected to spill over to the next round of ADB financial negotiations, this time for a replenishment of the bank's concessional Asia Development Fund (ADF).
Talks on the ADF, which could start informally this year, could be even tougher because, unlike the capital increase, with a paid-in portion of only two percent, ADF contributions are larger and have to be appropriated according to a schedule by donor governments.
The last ADF replenishment raised $4.2 billion for 1992-95.
ADB President Mitsuo Sato, who took office last November in the midst of pressure to reform the 28-year-old institution, pledged in his opening speech to overhaul the bank's operations with a "time-bound action plan."
An internal task force has called for a "spring cleaning" in the bank to weed out bad projects after last year's annual meeting, which was dominated by a public squabble between the United States and Japan over the bank's future.
The two hold voting parity in the bank, although Japan has greater contributions in concessional funds and traditionally gets to pick the ADB president from among its finance ministry elite.
Sato said that the bank now had "very low lending headroom" because of the protracted capital negotiations, and urged members to subscribe to the increase as soon as it is formally approved.
The United States, hampered by budgetary constraints, had been late on capital and ADF subscriptions in the past.
Sato reiterated forecasts that the bank's developing members will continue to be the pace car for world economic growth in the short term, but called attention to poverty, which still afflicts 30 to 45 percent of their fast-growing populations.