Draft Resolution submitted by Mexico

THE SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ASIA PACIFIC PARLIAMENTARY FORUM

Considering the consequences of the international financial crisis and its negative repercussion on world economy, and especially its adverse effects on third world countries;

Underlining the importance of cooperation between parliaments and governments to contain effects of the world financial crisis that threatens the stability, security and development of the Asia-Pacific region;

Conscious of the shared and differentiated responsibility of all countries to face the international economic crisis in order to respond to the needs for human development, eradicating poverty and attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDG);

Concerned about the threat the international economic crisis represents to sustainable development – considered essential for human progress – especially in the context of the Declaration adopted in the World Summit Meeting on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg in September of 2002;

Taking into account the need to concede the needed resources and restore a safe, just and stable regional economic system;

Conscious of the interdependence of national economies and the world economic system, which demands a universal focus and strong international cooperation to guarantee the optimum use of financial resources, as well as the establishment of trustworthy, strong financial institutions;

Remembering that the Report of the International Conference on Financing for Development held in Monterrey (Mexico) in 2002 indicates, in particular, that international financial stability is crucial for world economic growth;

Concerned that the international financial crisis has undermined social stability in numerous countries and threatens democratic achievement and advancement in human rights issues;

Resolves to:

1.           Urge parliamentarian commissions that handle financial, economic and commercial matters to unite with their governments to define an internal policy that allows financial institutions to be protected and to attenuate the effects of the international recession until a world strategy has been prepared to confront the world crisis;

2.           Call on governments to include parliamentarians in official delegations that they send to conferences, forums and organized meetings on the topic of the international financial crisis so parliamentarians can state their points of view and ideas on their quality as society’s representatives;

3.           Encourage governments to apply public policies, as soon as possible, to offset social effects the international financial crisis could have on perspectives for growth, job security, rising prices and poverty, elements considered by the Millennium Declaration adopted by the United Nations;

4.           Prioritize the design of public policies focused on giving a boost to small and medium-sized businesses as a strategy to strengthen the internal market, reduce international dependency on the consumption of merchandise and offset the effects of international economic slowdown;

5.           Request central banks and institutions that control exchange rates to implement the policies, procedures and precautionary measures that would assure the stability of financial and banking sectors;

6.           Exhort parliaments to promote a new financial system based on norms that could contribute to the establishment of a fairer and more transparent world economy, which would contribute, in due time, to greater economic stability and certainty;

7.           Exhort governments to promote commercial relations between nations to be regulated under a scrupulous setting of co-responsibility, in which the quality of exported products does not put the safety or health of end consumers at risk;

8.           Strongly urge governments to play a fundamental role in international recession in order for them to assume an active part, within their area of competence, in solving market deficiencies, caring for wellbeing and social stability at all times;

9.           Urge parliaments of all nations to promote social ethics, in which economic agents, because of the profound convincing of their social responsibility, should adopt policies to create trust, respect for the common good, human solidarity, to translate that into a strategy for economic growth and the creation of better jobs;

10.       Exhort nations for international economy to be regulated under general concepts in which no nation can act alone in respect to its specific interests and its vision of the world, but rather to recognize the needs, visions and interests of other countries;

11.       Urge nations to strengthen their commercial relations with other countries and respect bilateral and multilateral agreements that allow them to jointly confront the economic recession being experienced internationally;

12.       Request nations to reinforce good governments and responsible business practices, keeping the principles of the OECD in mind.