Africa, Civil Society, Development & Aid, Economy & Trade, Global, Global Geopolitics, Global Governance, Headlines, Human Rights, Poverty & SDGs

DEVELOPMENT: Helsinki Follow-Up to Stress Inclusive Governance

Julio Godoy

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov 23 2007 (IPS) - Government and civil society representatives from Africa, Europe, and other regions of the world are meeting here beginning Nov. 27 to examine issues of globalisation – from peace and security, environment and energy policy, to respect for human rights, and financing for development.

The Dar es Salaam conference, to be carried out from Nov. 27 thru 29, will be the third held as part of the Helsinki Process on Globalisation and Democracy since it was initiated in 2002 by the governments of Finland and Tanzania to address developing countries fears that growing international interdependencies are creating greater inequality in an already unequal world.

The meeting, titled "Inclusive governance – bridging global divides", is the follow-up of a Sep. 2005 conference held in the Finnish capital of Helsinki marking the culmination of the first phase of the process.

The role of non-state actors in promoting peace and security is high on the agenda for the review conference.

"The aim of the session on peace and security is to explore the specific contributions non-state actors could make to confidence and trust building, the challenges of improving both democracy and security in unstable environments and the possibilities for non-state actors to contribute to resolving individual crises, especially in the Middle East," Folke Sundman, of the Finish ministry for foreign affairs, told IPS.

Another theme to be discussed at length in Dar es Salaam is the relationship between national and global economic policies.

"The aim of the debate at Dar es Salaam is considering how developing countries could both best utilise their existing policy autonomy and gain more of it within the context of the global economy," Sundman stressed.

"How the global economic framework could best support national development programmes, and what innovative measures and new forms of cooperation between different stakeholders could be envisaged at the national and global levels," will also be discussed, according to Sundman.

"At the Helsinki conference, it was decided that our process, facilitated by the governments of Finland and Tanzania, should continue its work of mobilising political will for the implementation of global commitments and developing multi-stakeholder cooperation in global governance," Ilkka Kanerva, Finish minister for foreign affairs, said in a joint declaration with her Tanzanian counterpart Bernard K. Membe.

"In order to set a timeline for the Second Phase of the Helsinki Process, it was decided that a review of activities taken and experiences gained would be organised after two years, to provide a forum for facilitators of Road Maps, hosts of Roundtables, Consultative Network members, as well as other partners and key external reference groups to come together and discuss what has been done and what still needs to be done," the declaration read.

The concept of the multi-stakeholder cooperation is based on the understanding that globalisation has brought with it a fundamental change in world politics: states, traditionally seen as the only legitimate players on the international stage, have been joined by other stakeholders, such as international organisations, civil society organisations, and business and religious actors.

In the realm of peace and security, new threats have emerged.

Transmissible diseases, cross-border organized crime, trafficking and drugs, and climate change, menace not only states but also their citizens directly.

The Helsinki Process is based upon the belief that state security and human security have become intertwined.

The first phase of the Helsinki Process culminating in the Helsinki Conference of 2005 focused on how to mobilise the political will and resources required to implement commitments agreed upon by the international community – such as those outlined in the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The MDGs – to be achieved by 2015 – include a 50 percent reduction in extreme poverty and hunger; universal primary education; promotion of gender equality; reduction of child mortality by two-thirds; cutbacks in maternal mortality by three-quarters; combating the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a North-South global partnership for development.