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THIRD WORLD LEADERS TO MEET WITH DIFFERENT AIMS
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By Elizabeth Pisani
560 words
30 May 1990
Reuters News
(c) 1990 Reuters Limited

KUALA LUMPUR, May 30, Reuter - A group of 15 Third World leaders gather for the first time this week for a summit designed to knit developing countries closer together, but officials said ideas on the focus of the meeting differ widely.

Some among the so-called Group of 15 (G-15) want to find ways to drag the poor nations out of a whirlpool of foreign debt, others say they want to boost trade among developing countries while others believe their aim is to work toward joint scientific projects.

"We don't really have much in common politically. We're here to talk about the debt that is strangling us all, that is preventing the developing world from becoming the developed world," one Latin American delegate said.

The list of G-15 members reads like a who's who of major Third World debtors, with Brazil, Mexico and Argentina at the top and India, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria and Venezuela hot on their heels.

The other nations, whose debt is smaller but by no means insubstantial, are Peru, Malaysia, Algeria, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe, Senegal and Jamaica. Leaders of 10 countries and senior ministers of the other five will meet from June 1-3, following two days of talks among officials.

"Of course debt is a concern, but we will not be talking about the usual shopping list of economic issues here," said Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Malik Singh.

The group wanted to work on specific projects that would show that developing nations could work effectively together, he said. For example, India has suggested developing solar-powered refrigerators to keep vaccines in rural areas.

Malaysia has proposed financial links between poor nations, including persuading central banks to guarantee bilateral trade.

"A good idea, we want to do more business with other developing nations, but until we get rid of our debt it's stupid to talk of anything else," another Latin American delegate said.

Malaysia, hosting the talks at an elegant mansion turned luxury hotel on a heavily guarded hill in the capital Kuala Lumpur, acknowledged that debt was likely to play guest star.

"We are here to try to harmonise our views on items confronting us and external debt is an important one of those items," said Malaysian Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Ahmad Kamil Jaafar.

Any decisions on debt taken at the summit would likely be communicated to the industrialised world, he said.

Quite how the G-15 will relate to the first world may turn out to be another bone of contention.

"Let's face it, communism is dead. We need to form another power bloc, a front as a counterweight to the industrials," the Latin American said.

"It is not a bloc, it is not a group, it is not a front," said India's Malik Singh.

While they differed on whether to lock horns with developed nations, they agreed that the first world - especially the Group of Seven industrialised democracies - could not ignore a grouping of poor countries that showed it could work in unison.

"The G-7 has tended to be a very closed club," said Singh. "But hopefully they too will be interested in broadening relationships after this."

The G-7 groups the United States, Canada, France, Japan, Britain, West Germany and Italy.

 

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