UN secretary-general warns of economic toll after terror attacks

Agence France-Presse, Geneva

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned at the opening of an ILO conference on global employment prospects on Thursday that the Sept.11 terror attacks in the United States would have a "severe and multiple" impact on the livelihoods of the poor.

Quoting International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates of 24 million potential job losses by the end of next year, Annan called for jobs to be placed at the center of globalization efforts.

"Nobody can forecast with precision the economic and social consequences. But we already know that poor economies will pay the highest price. We know that millions of people will become more vulnerable to poverty than before," Annan told delegates at the ILO Global Employment Forum.

"We may never be able to say exactly how much worse the global economic outlook has become because of the Sept.11 tragedy," Annan said.

"But we can say that the consequences of these events -- in terms of falling commodity prices, political tension, lower oil prices, lower investment, loss of tourism revenues, escalating trade costs and movements of refuges -- will take their toll on many of those who can least afford it," Annan told the gathering of ministers, analysts, corporate and labor leaders.

Annan said the only way to intensify efforts to combat poverty worldwide was through globalization, but he called for a more inclusive form of global economic integration that took account of social and employment problems.

"We must rebuild and strengthen the confidence on which international economic integration depends," he added.