"EVERY EFFORT must be made through the organisation of international trade to reduce the poverty gap between the world's richest and poorest nations as failure to do so could hinder lasting peace in the global village," says Prime Minister P.J. Patterson.He said globalisation and significant improvements in technology and information flow have resulted in increased inequalities between developed and developing countries, adding that all developing countries wanted was equity and social justice in the international communities to which they belong.
"In terms of international trade every effort has to be made to reduce the poverty gap between rich and poor countries because without that, there can be no lasting peace. People are going to fight for survival. We have to deal with the problem of hunger, disease and ignorance and we have to do it as members of one human race and one human family", Mr. Patterson stated.
The Prime Minister who is on an official visit to South Florida was speaking yesterday at a function held at the African American Research Library and Cultrual Centre in Fort Lauderdale.
SENDING SIGNALS
He said citizens all over the world are of the opinion that the existing channels of participation fell short of their democratic ideals, and are sending signals that there is a need to improve the institutional mechanism of representative democracy.
He said it was important for leaders in developed and developing countries to recognise those signals, as national programmes and policies could no longer be fashioned without taking the global situation into consideration.
Mr. Patterson said also that while threats to global peace had manifested themselves on every continent especially in the form of terrorism, care must be taken to ensure that the precepts and principles essential to creating international peace, stability and lasting prosperity among the people of the world are not abandoned in effecting a response to terrorism.
"We cannot abandon the rule of law whether it be international law hallowed by practice, or laws that are determined by our respective constitutions and that must apply within our domestic borders," the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Patterson said there could be no talk about democracy in internal states without recognising the need for democracy in the global community.
