DAVOS, 27 January 2005 — French President Jacques Chirac called on the world’s richest nations yesterday to provide billions of dollars in aid for poor countries through new taxes and other measures that would help combat AIDS, poverty and natural disasters.
He said the tsunami that struck Asian coastlines last month — possibly killing up to 300,000 people — should trigger not only aid to that region but a broader coordinated drive by developed nations to reach out to the Third World.
“The world suffers chronically from what has been strikingly called the ‘silent tsunamis.’ Famine. Infectious diseases that decimate the life force of entire continents,” Chirac said in a video message from Paris to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
The annual meeting, in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, has taken on increased importance in recent years as globalization and common threats — from terrorism to increased vulnerability to natural disasters — have made the world’s nations and governments more dependent on each other.
Chirac alluded to such interdependence, saying that natural disasters, political unrest, uncontrolled migration and extremism are “breeding grounds for terrorism” — suggesting developed nations had a stake in resolving the problem.
The French leader outlined a number of steps to raise billions of dollars through taxes on international financial transactions, plane tickets or fuel used by airliners and oceangoing vessels.
He also proposed that countries with bank secrecy laws make a special contribution to Third World aid and that developed nations provide “coordinated tax incentives” to stimulate private donations.
Chirac asked that the world’s eight leading developed nations debate his plan at a G-8 summit in July in Scotland.
He did not spell out an amount of money that would be generated, but gave several examples.
A tax on international financial transactions — which the United States strongly opposes — would raise $10 billion a year, while a $1 tax on every plane ticket sold worldwide would raise “at least $3 billion” a year without causing the aviation industry much harm, Chirac said.
The French leader’s radical proposals upstaged British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who addressed the forum’s opening session later on his plan for reducing global poverty, although Chirac was careful to endorse the British initiative.
Blair referred to Chirac’s ideas for raising extra money without endorsing them in his speech. Germany, France’s closest partner, gave a cautious welcome to some of his proposals.
Some 2,500 corporate, political and other leaders will spend five days debating an array of issues from AIDS to US leadership, from Europe’s anemic growth to China’s phenomenal expansion. In over 200 workshops and debates, the Davos participants focus on “tough choices.”
One example is China, whose economic transformation is redrafting the world order and whose phenomenal growth has already triggered higher oil prices — which, in turn, sharpens the global climate change debate.
China’s growth will help spur “global demand for energy ... by 60 percent by 2030,” said N.R. Narayana Murthy, chairman of Infosys Technologies of India.
“There is no stopping this giant,” said Takatoshi Ito of the University of Tokyo.
