Crans Montana Forum ends with gloomy prognosis
Globalisation with a human face was the dominant theme at the Crans Montana Forum, which ended on Sunday. The gathering of 500 leaders, both political and economic, was a chance for many to air their views about world developments in the new century.
During the closing session, the vice-president of the World Bank, Jean-François Rischard, said that in the next 20 years a demographic explosion and the impact of the new technologies would transform the world. But poverty will take on ever more gigantic proportions, he warned, as food and energy resources become scarce.
He said that as the disparities between rich and poor increased, international institutions would have to adapt.
The Forum was opened on Wednesday by the Swiss president Adolf Ogi. He appealed for politicians not to stand back and watch the process of globalisation take place, but to take an active role in ensuring its benefits were spread to all.
Ogi suggested the creation of a council, paralleling the United Nations Security Council, which would be responsible for implementing the resolutions of the Forum, and events such as last week’s United Nations Social Summit in Geneva.
The leaders of developing countries attending the Forum were more critical of the limited spread of globalisation’s benefits. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, of Cambodia, said that globalisation helped the rich, and ignored the poor.
Switzerland was well represented at the Forum, with the economics minister Pascal Couchepin, and foreign minister Joseph Deiss both holding meetings with their counterparts from around the world.
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