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II. Global Challenges in the 21st Century: A View from Chile by Ricardo Lagos
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Chapter
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4© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore II Global Challenges in the 21st Century: A View from Chile Ricardo Lagos Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore; Professor Wang Gungwu, Chairman of Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; Mr K. Kesavapany, Director of the Institute; Authorities, members of the diplomatic corps; members of the academic community; members of the business community; and students present here this afternoon. Dear Friends I am so sorry that I think that the friends in Singapore will keep referring to Miss Cecilia Bolocco than today’s speaker. I am so sorry for that. Let me tell you that it was not without hesitation that I accepted the task of sharing with you some views on Global Challenges in this 24th Singapore Lecture. I say “some hesitation” because the list of my predecessors here is indeed impressive, and I am extremely honoured that you think I can follow in the steps of my predecessors. I accepted this invitation primarily because of our interest in Singapore. We certainly share an ocean, but also much more than an ocean. I would say that we share a common value: a common approach to economic reform. Both countries, Chile and Singapore, look forward to integration into the world society and this integration is convenient for our own people. We also understand that in order 5© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore to integrate in the society we need to share some common values to build the kind of society we are going to be. To be competitive today, you need to have some kind of internal cohesion. You need to share some common values in the way that you have been able to, to succeed in that particular area here in the last forty years in Singapore. Our two countries have an interesting track record in what we are trying to do. Both are active members of APEC. Both have actively supported the Forum for East Asia–Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) and both are working through trade agreements to bring together our two countries plus New Zealand. We hope to be able to finish this agreement between the three countries early next year. Within ASEAN, Singapore is one of the most active business centres and, needless to say, the main port from which many of the Chilean products are distributed to the other member countries around the region. At the same time, for both countries, multilateralism has become both a global and a national imperative. If we want to make progress, we need a world with very clear rules, where opportunities are open to all. This is why we thought that it was important to thank you for this invitation. We think the forces that shape our world today are forces that have to do with processes of globalization, and at the same time, with the processes of what happens with multilateral institutions that will have to shape, to some extent, the global process. In other words, I do think that there is a growing tension between these two forces. While globalization is gathering strength, multilateralism — I wouldn’t say that it is losing force, but, at least, multilateral institutions and the rules that are supposed to be applied by them are not growing as fast enough as the processes of globalization. [44.220.245.254] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 03:36 GMT) 6© 2004 Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore And this is very clear. Foreign trade today is equal to 60 per cent of the global gross national product. Of all the products of the world, 60 per cent is trade. Just one single indicator: international telephone traffic rose from 5,000 million minutes in the mid-eighties to 30,000 million minutes by the turn of the century — six times in just fifteen years. Nevertheless, if globalization is blooming, there is also a bad part of the globalization process. Because illegal and criminal activities are rising, terrorist activities have become more global and less confined to geographic boundaries, and terrorist activities represent a tremendous menace to the process of globalization. On the other hand, what about multilateral governance? Despite the ever-increasing need for global governance, it is difficult to see how we are going to be able to keep the multilateral process increasing. Global markets are growing very fast, without parallel in the last sixty years. But what kind of institutions are we going to have in order to make global markets...