SINGAPORE, 15 October 2003 — An annual summit of the region’s business elite, which is usually a celebration of the benefits of global trade, ended here yesterday with delegates reflecting on the huge economic divide between the world’s rich and poor.

Although many of the 800 business and political leaders who attended the three-day World Economic Forum East Asia summit were optimistic about Asia’s economic prospects, the unfairness of the current global trading system dominated the major speeches.

Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga called yesterday for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to overhaul its global trade rules as she accused rich nations of hypocrisy on the thorny issue of agricultural subsidies.

“Policies regarding subsidies and competitive markets must be the same for all states,” Kumaratunga said.

“We do not (understand) how rich nations demand of us to abandon to the whims of the global markets vulnerable sectors of our society ... when they practice extensive protectionist policies for these sectors in their countries.” Her views were similar to those of another guest speaker, Jordan’s King Abdallah, who called on the global community on Monday to embrace a “dynamic new partnership for development”.

Abdallah said the inequities between the world’s rich and poor under the current global trade system were creating security and economic divisions across the globe.

“Too few control too much and too many have too little to hope for,” Abdallah said.

“In a world of six billion people, one billion own 80 percent of global GDP (gross domestic product). At the other extreme, one billion struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day.”

WEF Asia director Frank-Jurgen Richter told AFP many of the delegates to the summit shared the views of Kumaratunga and Abdallah about the problems the poor were up against in the global trade system.

“It wasn’t only the governments’ views. It was brought up by the businessmen,” Richter said.

“I think we have a very important role to play in this regard. Following Cancun, the whole world is changing.” Richter was referring to the acrimonious breakdown of talks at last month’s WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, in which poor nations challenged the rich over agricultural subsidies and tariffs.

With the meeting abandoned, the Doha timetable of January 2005 the WTO set to implement trade reforms appears to have been derailed.

Nevertheless, the WEF East Asia summit was generaly positive about Asia’s economies, which are predicted to grow more strongly than any other part of the world next year and continue to expand as they integrate.

One of the summit’s co-chairs, Singapore Bureau Federation Chairman Stephen Lee, reflected the views of most delegates in his summarizing comments yesterday with a glowing forecast for the region.

“Asia will be the fastest growing region in the next 10 years and with China’s emergence, it opens up a new era of economic integration in the region,” Lee said.

Closer economic ties was one of the dominant themes at the summit, with business leaders eager to fast track recent developments between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China, Japan, South Korea and South Asia.