WORLD ECONOMIC CONVERGENCE VITAL, OECD ENVOY SAYS
It is vitally important that the
industrialised countries of the world work towards convergence
of their economies and economic policies, U.S. Ambassador to
the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Edward Streator said.
    He told an American Chamber of Commerce lunch the world was
changing rapidly and national attitudes had to alter
accordingly if growth was not to falter and world depression
set in.
    Liberalisation of world trade in money, goods and services
and technology was an overriding goal, he added.
    World financial flows were now 12 times as large as
traditional trade flows, the importance of commodities was
declining rapidly, countries such as those on the Pacific Rim
were becoming major growth areas, and the labour element in
manufacturing was declining sharply, Streator said.
    All these factors were creating major social and economic
pressures and demanding a rapid reassessment of traditional
attitudes, he added.
    "Agriculture is a prime target for change.One of the first
things we must do is disconnect farm subsidies from production,"
Streator said.
    At an OECD ministerial meeting in two weeks time there
would be an attempt to agree global principles to help reduce
this major agricultural problem, Streator said.
    "However, of equal and vital importance in reducing the
world's dangerous slide towards protectionism will be the
outcome of the new round of talks under the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)," Streator added.
    Dutch finance minister Onno Ruding, who also spoke briefly
at the lunch, stressed the importance of coordinating national
policies and of the GATT talks in preventing a rapid decline
into bilateralism and global protectionism.
 REUTER
