Pakistan is seeking a switch to US global financial control, while Cuba leads the UN bloc

Pakistan’s envoy to the United Nations has expressed the need to create alternatives to the current US-dominated global financial system as he handed the leadership of a massive bloc of developing countries to Cuba.

Speaking to a small group of journalists ahead of the Group of 77, or G77, handover ceremony on Thursday, Pakistani Ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram explained that “the biggest structural problem in terms of global governance is the control of the international financial system the United States.”

He said “many other countries, including their allies and friends, are not happy with that,” although Washington’s position reflected the reality that “the United States is the world’s dominant financial power, and that is not going to change any time soon.” “

“But efforts are being made to democratize the international financial architecture,” Akram said. “They should be made.”

Asked by news week To broaden the direction of these initiatives, the senior Pakistani diplomat pointed to the quota system put in place by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is based on economic status and gives priority to wealthier, mainly Western, countries while giving poorer nations the least say in how money is distributed will.

He also called for reform of sovereign debt management and called for the US-led World Bank to overhaul the borrowing system and use its excellent credit ratings to borrow on behalf of developing countries, which would then be lent the money.

“These are just a few issues that need to be addressed to change the international financial architecture,” Akram said. “Will we get there? That’s a difficult question. Obviously there are countries whose interests don’t want that.”

But as he prepared to end Pakistan’s tenure as G77 chairmanship along with leading a slew of projects on issues like poverty alleviation, tackling climate change and bridging the technology gap for developing countries, he put his trust in Cuba to lead the way.

“I’m sure they will have a plan of action. I think the goals are clear and general,” Akram said. “As such, it can be expected that they will push hard for the realization of some of the goals.”

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla outlined that plan of action hours later, addressing the UN group, which has expanded to some 134 nations since its initial formation by non-aligned states amid the Cold War nearly six decades ago. Those in attendance included representatives from most nations from Asia, Africa and Latin America, with China occupying a unique position as the world’s second largest economy, leading to the group often being referred to as “the G77 and China”.

“The major challenges that the current economic order imposes on developing countries have culminated in these times of systematic crises,” said Rodríguez Parrilla, “namely health, climate, energy, food and economic crises; Escalation of geopolitical tensions and renewed forms of domination and hegemony.”

Among the issues he believes still need to be addressed by the international community are “unequal access to vaccines, the digital divide, the burden of external debt, structural reform of the international financial architecture, development finance flows, food insecurity, restrictive trade measures, climate finance and capacity building .”

Regarding restrictive trade measures, he argued that “more than 30 measures and systems of unilateral coercive measures against developing countries continue to be fully implemented,” a trend he argued is “far from reversing” and “in the has intensified in recent years”. Years.”

Cuba has been the subject of one of the world’s longest-running US sanctions campaigns. While Washington has regularly been condemned by a near-unanimous consensus in the international community on these measures, America’s leading role in the global financial network has drawn caution from those who might want to do business with the communist-run island.

Western sanctions had a similar effect on a number of other nations represented in the G77 and present at Thursday’s meeting, including Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and Zimbabwe. The vast majority of these actions are in response to allegations of human rights abuses and authoritarian politics.

Cuba’s top diplomat pledged to follow up the G77 and China agendas “in a flexible and always constructive manner, based on the broadest possible consensus, in order to implement the transformative vision defended by our group”. He stated that “promoting international solidarity and cooperation in support of our nations’ post-pandemic recovery will be our priority.”

And Rodríguez Parrilla pledged to build a series of collaborative projects between nations of the Global South in health, biotechnology and education, three areas in which Cuba ranks among the highest in the developing world, among others.

He also pledged to challenge the most influential and wealthy nations on the issue of global responsibility.

“We will face any attempt to shoulder the burden of unfulfilled promises made by the most powerful nations that devote millions to arms manufacture rather than development,” he said. “We will promote concrete commitments to financing on favorable terms and capacity building for the countries of the South.”

While US President Joe Biden is yet to show any sign of easing sanctions on Cuba, a move partly pursued by the US when he served as President Barack Obama’s vice president, only to be reversed by President Donald Trump , the current government has recognized the demands for reform.

Addressing Pakistan’s urging on changes to the International Monetary Fund’s quota regime, State Department spokesman Ned Price referred reporters to the Washington, DC-based global financial institution during a news conference Thursday. However, he stated that “of course we want Pakistan to continue on the path of reform”.

“We want to be a partner,” Price said. “We will continue to be a partner to Pakistan on all of its priorities, whether it is security, whether it is economic in this case, or humanitarian in the case of providing the additional funds for flood relief today.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also commented last week on calls for debt reform for African nations following the US-Africa leadership summit.

“This is an issue, an issue that we’ve heard loud and clear here,” Blinken said. “It’s not new in the sense that this has been part of the conversation for a while. And there is no doubt that the rise of unsustainable debt burdens, particularly in Africa, is an enormous challenge that we are committed to addressing.”

“If you look at the debt crises that we have seen, they are devastating from a humanitarian perspective and can be debilitating when it comes to effective economic development and inclusive growth,” he added. “So, there are a number of things that we’ve talked about that we clearly need to move forward with.”

Among those moves, Blinken highlighted mobilizing both national and private creditors from other countries, since “it can’t just be the United States.” He said the US is already supporting this through multinational platforms such as the Group of 20 or G20, a body comprising the world’s 20 largest economies and the European Union, and the Paris Club, made up of 22 major creditor countries.

But another “concern” raised by Blinken was “the growth of opaque debt, including off-balance sheet debt and debt hidden by non-disclosure agreements” drafted by other companies and countries. Although Blinken did not mention China by name, he and other US officials have often accused Beijing of pursuing such practices in Africa and other parts of the developing world for China’s own benefit.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang denied the so-called “debt trap diplomacy” argument during a conference held Wednesday alongside African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat.

“The so-called ‘debt trap’ of China in Africa is a narrative trap imposed on China and Africa,” Qin was quoted as saying by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “Projects and cooperations carried out by China in Africa have contributed to Africa’s development and the improvement of people’s lives. The African people have the greatest say in this.”

“China will continue to respect the will of the African people and bring tangible benefits to the African people through Sino-African cooperation based on the realities in Africa,” he added, “to achieve better common development.”

Qin, who served as China’s ambassador to the US before his promotion was announced late last month, also argued that “Africa’s debt problem is essentially a development issue.”

“Resolving the problem requires addressing not only the symptoms but also the causes, including through debt treatment to improve Africa’s self-sufficient and sustainable development capacity,” he added. “China’s financing cooperation with Africa mainly concerns areas such as infrastructure development and productive capacity to improve Africa’s capacity for independent and sustainable development.”