Lula advocates global financial reform

Most of the Latin American leaders who have spoken at the U.N. General Assembly this week have focused on the crisis in Honduras. We’ll discuss the Honduran situation later, but it’s important to point out that presidents have also used the U.N. pulpit to highlight other vital and regional concerns.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called for the need to reform several international financial bodies. Lula advocated granting developing countries such as Brazil more control over the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Reform is necessary after advanced nations led the world into a financial crisis according to Lula. “We can’t just shovel away the rubble of failure; we must be midwives to the future,” he emphasized during his speech yesterday.

With Lula expected to be a key player at the G20 summit starting today, the Brazilian leader also decried protectionist policies that some countries have enacted in response to the global economic slowdown.

"Rich countries are putting off reform at multilateral agencies like the IMF and the World Bank," he said. "We simply cannot understand the paralysis of the Doha Round, whose conclusion will above all benefit poor countries."

"There are also worrisome signs of return to protectionist practices, while little has been done to fight tax havens," he said.

Image- PRESS TV
Online Sources- Bloomberg, Voice of America, AFP, Xinhua