Summit of developing nations looks toward Asian crisis

May 11, 1998
Web posted at: 12:18 p.m. EDT (1618 GMT)

CAIRO, Egypt (CNN) -- Leaders of the so-called G15 group of developing nations began a summit in the Egyptian capital on Monday, amid calls that member states should learn their lessons from the current economic crisis in Asia.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the host of the three-day summit, said the Asian crisis had illustrated to the world the dangers posed by integration into the global economy.

"The liberalization of our markets must be gradual," he said, adding that the problems of Asia -- and their impact on other regional economies -- had shown "the weakness of our global system."

He urged the world community to learn from the economic difficulties and called for "a structured dialogue between the South and leading industrial economies" in order to achieve what he called "proper management of the world economies."

Suharto warns of 'painful sacrifices'

Also addressing the summit Monday was President Suharto of Indonesia, whose country is gripped by an economic crisis that has fueled almost daily anti-government demonstrations.

He called on his people to make "painful sacrifices" to beat the fallout of the economic troubles, which have led to the closure of several industrial enterprises and banks and triggered widespread unemployment and soaring food and energy prices.

Suharto warned that unless Asian economies were rehabilitated quickly the fallout would spread to countries outside Asia, and he spoke of how the crisis had undermined Indonesia's efforts to combat poverty.

A role for Africa

Factoid: G15 nations: The G15 group of developing nations includes: Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, newcomer Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Peru, Senegal, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. Sri Lanka has applied for membership.

President Liamine Zeroual of Algeria said that Africa should be allowed to have a decision-making role in the international financial market.

"Africa cannot be left outside the radical transformations facing the world economy. We must take an active part in the decision-making in order not to be sidelined," he said, addressing the summit on behalf of the African continent.

"The lesson we must draw from the Asian crisis is that no country can be spared from the mistakes of an unregulated system, no matter how developed it is," he added.

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori in turn said in a speech to the summit on behalf of Latin American G15 members that the region was taking steps to integrate, especially with free trade zones.

"South-south cooperation has to be expanded to give stronger support to our development efforts," he said.

"In Latin America we are now fully aware that integration is an integral tool," Fujimori said, adding that globalization "should not lead to frustration for anyone."

Correspondent James Martone and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related sites:

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