KL anxious about RI commitment

KL anxious about RI commitment

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Developed nations should honor the promise
made more than two years ago to help developing countries sustain
the environment, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said
yesterday.

Financial commitments by developed countries utilizing freely
the rich resources of developing nations was not forthcoming
although more than two years had lapsed after the landmark Earth
Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

"Developing countries require assistance and technology
transfers but these have been subjected to conditions imposed by
the developed nations," he said in opening the International
Conference of Asian Parliamentarians on the Environment and
Sustainable Development.

The four-day conference was being attended by 40 delegates
from 22 countries.

Mahathir said development aid from the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development countries to developing
nations had dwindled to US$54.8 billion last year from $60.8
billion the previous year.

The only new source of funds was from the restructured Global
Environment Facility (GEF), which had been pledged $2 billion by
26 countries, but conditions had been attached to the release of
the money, he said.

The UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio
de Janeiro in June 1992 had adopted the GEF to finance a
program of action to sustain development and guide environment
conservation into the 21st century.

"I get the impression that, during the discussion of the
implementation of various environment-related conventions, the
developing countries are treated like beggars for aid," Mahathir
said.

He hoped that a global arrangement could be established to
ensure that developed countries honor commitments to environment
conservation.

"The continued attempts by the developed countries to
introduce the social clause for workers and other conditions are
disguised protectionism to erode the competitive edge of
developing nations," Mahathir said.