Globalisation inevitable "for good or bad"

Globalisation is neither new nor can it be prevented from affecting the future of the country "for good or for bad", Tanzanian economists and civic and political leaders concluded at a recent conference on the social dimension of globalisation. During the dialogue, held in Tanzania's commercial capital Dar es Salaam, the participants debated the positive and negative effects of the phenomenon, with the general consensus being that it posed a challenge to leaders to profit from the benefits, while guarding against the potential risks to the country. "Globalisation is a real challenge, but the animated debate it provokes has at times become chaotic, unstructured and unfocused," Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa said at the opening ceremony. "The challenge is real, but chaos and anger is not the best way to deal with it." "Certain compensatory and supportive measures are necessary because, left on their own, market forces are completely devoid of social justice. They have no sense of human responsibility to weaker members of society or the necessity to create level playing fields, taking into account the different starting points," Mkapa, who is the co-chair of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation, added. Many other participants at the conference supported these views, saying that while globalisation may not seem democratic or fair, it was inevitable and a way to exploit it for the benefit of the country and its people had to be found. "The question is whether we can opt out of globalisation. If we do so, we are committing economic suicide," commented Iddi Simba, a former minister of industries and commerce. "We have to create awareness to see the implications of belonging to regional groupings. We also have to look at which role we want Tanzania to play." Simba, like many others, spoke of the need to improve capacity and productivity so that Tanzania and other least developed countries (LDC) could compete in the global marketplace and benefit from globalisation as much as more developed countries. During the conference, participants listed increased investment and employment, new technology and management systems, greater accountability, superior standards and an improved perception of Tanzania among the benefits of globalisation. On the negative side, as globalisation was profit-driven, it did not take into account the "human factor" nor many other social dimensions, participants noted. Gerry Rogers, the director of Policy and Integration at the International Labour Office (ILO), said the conference had been a success as "it is important to be open about globalisation, and not just reject it".