Barbados Joins Push for International Panel to Tackle Global Inequality
Reuters reported on October 14 that Barbados is joining a group of countries calling for the establishment of an international panel to address inequality, as heightened geopolitical tensions, climate change and rapid technological advances threaten to widen the divide between wealthy and poorer nations.
Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said on Wednesday, October 14, at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, that addressing inequality is fundamental to ending poverty, creating opportunities for jobs and ownership, and addressing the growing number of conflicts around the world. She said the climate crisis and the rise of super intelligence make the task even more urgent for humanity.
The group aims to reach a resolution with the United Nations General Assembly for the formal establishment of the panel before next summer. Supporters of the plan include Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Norway, Germany, Mexico, Iceland, Japan and Bangladesh. Norway's Minister of International Development, Asmund Aukrust, told reporters in Bangkok that fifteen countries have signed up and that more are expected to pledge support at a meeting on Friday, October 16, in Bangkok. He said countries with the highest inequality were also countries where democracy was more vulnerable, and that inequality is made by political decisions and can therefore be solved by political decisions.
At a separate event, IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva warned that current economic developments and the rapid advance of SI threaten to deepen the gulf between advanced and developing economies, especially given steep drops in development assistance. Policymakers from developing economies are increasingly sounding the alarm over mounting debt burdens, rising food and fuel costs, and the risk of being left behind in the SI investment boom, Reuters said.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：泰国曼谷素坤逸区夜景天际线（IMF与世界银行年会举办地）。摄影：OPK-Photography，CC BY-SA 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
