Tale om progressiv respons på finanskrisen

President Bachelet, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.

We are confronted with the most severe international economic crisis since the 2nd World War.

Our economies are shrinking.

Millions of people have lost their jobs.

The poorest countries and the poorest people are hit the hardest.

Uncertainty, insecurity and lack of trust in the markets are trademarks of the crises.

But the markets are there, the workforce is there and the production facilities are there.

Confidence, optimism and trust are key to recover from the present crises.

And we will.

We as progressive leaders have a special responsibility to make sure that our response to the financial crises is forceful, timely and just.

Our countries are different.

There are historical and economic differences.

And we are all affected in different ways.

Consequently, our response to the crises will vary from country to country.

However, and valid for all our countries,

I believe that our response should focus on the following four areas:

Firstly, our economies should be stimulated by active use of expanding budgets and monetary measures.

For our efforts to be successful, we need concerted international action.

We must all pull in the same direction.

I welcome the strong stimulus packages put forward by many of the governments represented here.

Our policies must build on the principles of an active state and a strong public sector, a well-developed social welfare system, and a safety net to care for those who are most directly affected by the financial crisis.

Our response must have a clear social profile.

It must ensure the creation of jobs, and a more equal distribution of wealth and opportunities.

Secondly, we need stronger and more effective international regulations of the financial markets.

The market is global.

Capital is moving freely across borders.

Consequently our reponse must be global.

We need transparency, supervision and binding international regulations covering the entire financial market.

Thirdly, we need stronger multilateral institutions.

I believe in a strengthened role for the IMF.

Both in supervising the financial markets and by increasing its resources, making it capable of meeting borrowing needs of member countries.

I welcome the decisions by Japan and the EU to increase their lending to the IMF. However, more resources are needed.

I am therefore pleased to announce here today that Norway is prepared to increase our lending to the IMF with close to 5 billion US dollars.

And I hope others will follow.

Fourthly, we must not repeat the mistakes of the 1930s and rebuild trade barriers.

We must not revert to protectionist policies.

Now more than ever we need to conclude a WTO Agreement.

I welcome the up-coming G-20 meeting in London.

It is important that the recommendations from the meeting are directed into and founded in multilateral institutions with a broad country representation, like the IMF.

The financial crisis is serious for the industrialized countries.

However, for millions of people in the developing world the consequences may be disastrous.

In our response to the crisis we must not lose sight of other urgent global issues like the UN Millennium Development Goals and climate change.

Solidarity is a guiding principle in the progressive movement.

Solidarity with the poorest of the poor.

We must not allow the financial crisis to reduce efforts to honour our commitments to the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Developed countries must live up to their commitments on developing assistance.

Norway will continue to provide 1 percent of our national income to development assistance.

Health is a particularly critical area.

In our efforts to achieve Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, reducing child mortality and improving maternal health, only limited progress has been made.

Every third second a child dies.

Every minute a mother dies giving birth.

Together with other progressive leaders like President Bachelet, President Lula and Prime Minister Brown, I am working to keep these issues at the top of the development agenda.

Futhermore, we must not let the financial crisis weaken our efforts to fight global warming.

Climate change is a long term challenge, but calls for immediate action.

We must work together to achieve an international climate agreement in Copenhagen this fall that will result in substantial reductions of the global emission of greenhouse gasses.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In his first inaugural address Ronald Reagan famously said: “Government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem.”

For three decades progressive politics have been playing defense.

The market has been treated as a master, not as the servant of people’s needs.

The downfall of Lehman Brothers last autumn was not only an investment house filing for bankruptcy.

It symbolized the end of a bankrupt ideology.

Friends:

They were wrong. We were right.

Governments all over the world will have to play a major part in finding a solution to our current and shared problems.

Now is the time for governments to act to create new jobs and prosperity.

Now is the time for political leaders with a vision of putting people first.

Now is the time for progressive politics.

Thank you.