Global capitalism will help the poor

By Walter A. Dods, Jr.

Years ago, somebody coined that grandiose phrase, "Geneva of the Pacific," to describe a dream niche for Hawai'i. Truth is, efforts to make that dream into reality have stumbled, despite the best efforts of many fine minds.

In May, we have a chance to put some flesh on those old bones when Hawai'i is host to the 34th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank. The conference will bring to Honolulu 2,500 business and government leaders, including ministers of finance from most participating nations. The event also will attract corporate executives from around the region and world.

The Asian Development Bank aims to reduce poverty in our region by encouraging private-sector economic development, training and education; protecting the environment and improving the status of women. The bank provides loans ($6 billion last year) and technical assistance to governments and private entities. The help goes to giants such as China, Indonesia and India and to small nations such as the Cook Islands, Kiribati and Samoa.

Is this meeting a big deal? You bet.

The corporate community has pledged nearly $400,000 in cash and services because it believes this conference will help reposition Hawai'i as more than a superb vacation destination. The meeting will validate our Islands as a place where serious business can take place — something locally based corporations have known for years.

But this meeting is not only for finance ministers and corporate giants. Smaller Island businesses can play, too. Hawai'i is staging two showcases during the meeting:

• A Global Pavilion of exhibits, including a "Hawai'i's Own" section telling success stories about Island business, research and high technology. The pavilion offers a platform for networking between local business and Asia-Pacific decision-makers. A business can exhibit for at little as $1,000.

• Seminars, open to the public, on such topics as urban environmental problems, water sources, tourism's role in reducing poverty, doing business in Asia and ending child labor.

The work of the bank, the World Trade Organization and other international finance organizations has spawned a backlash of protest during meetings in other cities — notably Seattle last year.

Because of America's commitment to free speech, we are working to make sure that protestors and critics have an opportunity to be heard here in May.

The critics' arguments are understandable. A huge underclass has been untouched by globalization and economic development in Asia, the Pacific and even our own nation. International financial leaders must listen to these critics and do a better job of explaining how economic development and globalization can help that underclass.

Asia and the Pacific have made tremendous economic and social gains during the lifetime of the Asian Development Bank. Per-capita income has tripled. Average life expectancy at birth in the early 1970s was 48 years; now it's 65. Then, only 40 percent could read and write; today, 70 percent of the region's adults are literate.

Nevertheless, two thirds of the world's poor live in Asia. More needs to be done.

All of the bank's future projects will have to show that they benefit the poor, directly or indirectly. As the Asian Development Bank's recent annual report said: "Human development is the key to economic development. This means a proper balance between the economic and social agendas. It means ensuring adequate nutrition, health care and education."

While listening to the critics, we must repeat the lesson of recent history: globalization of capitalism has the best chance of raising standards of living around the world. At the same time, the challenge of globalization is to make sure that people don't feel left behind.

In part, that requires honest governments and legal systems that protect people from the abuses of unfettered capitalism. Such governance reform, a goal of the Asian Development Bank, can build safety nets to make globalization work for more people.

The Asian Development Bank has been a force for progress. May's meeting can help it to do more and provide a stepping-stone for economic progress in our own Islands. I hope Hawai'i businesses will take this opportunity to listen, learn and participate in the meetings and the debates that will surround them.

Walter Dods, chairman and chief executive officer of First Hawaiian Bank, is chairman of the steering committee for the ADB Board of Governors meeting next month.