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REMARKS
BY HON P. J. PATTERSON
PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA
AT
CLOSING SESSION
OF VIII SUMMIT OF HEADS OF STATE/GOVERNMENT
WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1998
It is a great honour for me to speak as the incoming Chairman, now that our VIII
Summit of the G-15 draws to a close.
All Heads of State and Government, as well as each member of every visiting
delegation would wish me on their behalf to express to President Mubarak, his
government and all the people of Egypt, our sincere appreciation for their
welcome and extra-ordinary hospitality.
We want also to place on record our appreciation for the astute manner in which
the Chairman President Mubarak has guided our deliberations.
All together it was a formidable performance.
We close this meeting with a strong recognition of the dramatic shifts in the
international economy.
As one millennium gives way to another, mankind is witnessing significant
breakthroughs in many fields. The dominant effects of technology, the
globalization of production and exchange of goods, the breaking down of
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all relevant forums considering refonn of the international monetary and financial
system.
We support the concepts of good governance, human rights, labour standards and
environmental protection, but we cannot permit subjective interpretation to
become the guise or pretexts for protbctionism and extra-territorial application of
purely domestic legislation.
Developing nations, too, have rights, and we must be fully prepared to enforce
these rights within the WTO whenever they are breached by the developed
countries so as to maintain the benefits for which we bargained and to which we
agreed at Marakesh.
The G-15 must keep looking ahead.
Nor should we allow "electronic commerce" to expose our societies to money .
laundering or other anti-social and criminal activities. Yet we must harness its
potential and put it to the service of our people.
We have a responsibility to avoid external dictates which would simply result in
a diversion of appropriate funding from social and rehabilitative programmes and
thereby increase the number of people vulnerable to poverty.
We ignore the social implications of globalization to our great peril.
It is important that our Group find solutions, through collective actions at
regional and international levels. Indeed, our strength lies not only in the
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I hope with your total support to build on the strengths of the G-15, which has a
unique opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the future economic security of
all countries.
Here in Cairo, we have determined to provide a sharper focus for what we do
and to make our joint efforts more effective.
These considerations should be uppermost in our minds as we go forward,
always searching for the answers which we can apply to the complex problems
that confront us.
I pledge to play my part in creating that new era of dynamism, on which we
embarked eight years ago, and which will take the G-15 further along the road of
South-South Cooperation.
I anticipate that all Heads will be present in Jamaica next year.
You may rest assured of true Jamaican hospitality, the friendliness of our people
and our determination to help make the G-15 a force in building a better quality
of life for all our people, in our time.
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Percival J. Patterson Collection
