Zedillo Report
A panel of independent financial experts, appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and chaired by former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, presented a report in June 2001 as an independent input to intergovernmental Finance for Development discussions.
The report outlined bold steps for financing poverty alleviation in the developing world. Some of the principal recommendations of the panel, which included former Indian finance minister Manmohan Singh, were innovative finance and a panel to provide leadership on issues of global governance.
• Developing countries should aim at corruption-free governance based on participation; disciplined macroeconomic policies; priority to investment in human capital, especially education and health, and property rights that protect workers and the environment.
• The World Trade Organisation (wto) should launch a Development Round. Industrialised countries should fully implement their Uruguay Round commitments, liberalise trade in agricultural products, reduce tariff peaks, reconsider trade-related intellectual property protection and eliminate trade barriers in manufacturing.
• Developing countries should create an attractive environment for foreign direct investment.
• Aid should be distributed on two criteria: depth of poverty in a country, and assessment of its policies.
• The potential benefits of an International Tax Organisation should be considered, to curb money-laundering, illegal transfers and trans-national crime. Such an organisation could negotiate and operate global arrangements for taxing emigrants.