GFDD and FUNGLODE, Honorary President Leonel Fernández seeks a new economic paradigm to combat inequality and guarantee prosperity

Dr. Leonel Fernández, former president of the Dominican Republic and honorary President of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development and  Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo, proposed the urgent need to establish a new global economic paradigm, under UN guidance, that will reduce inequality and ensure prosperity for all inhabitants of the world.

To that end, Dr. Fernández called for the implementation of an international plan of action
to promote innovation in a healthy economic atmosphere as a way of accelerating the development of different countries.

Fernández made these statements in a lecture he gave on Tuesday as part of the political dialogue between the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the International Monetary Fund on the current evolution of the world economy, an activity that is part of the High-level Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting
underway in this city. The theme of the meeting is “Science, Technology and Innovation and the Potential of Culture for Promoting Sustainable Development and Achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

With respect to innovation, Fernández said it plays an
important role in increasing productivity and is the key factor necessary to improve the human condition. He pointed to progress in the area of healthcare as an example of having elevated the standard of living on a global scale.

He argued, however, that the norms serving as a basis for the registration of patents have become an obstacle to innovation in developing countries. He cited several factors that may explain this.

Four years after the housing
bubble burst in the United States, the number of patent applications in the majority of countries have not yet recovered to their pre-crisis situation. “In other words, the crisis interrupted the innovation process.”

In terms of innovation, he explained that the plan he is proposing must include new forms of support for businesses, including additional new resources for regional development banks, the creation of high tech incubators, the promotion of
public-private partnerships for innovation, human resources as well as training and facilitating developing countries to fully integrate into the global supply chain.

He insisted that financing is necessary for innovation policies to ensure long-term economic growth and to promote sustainable development worldwide.

Fernández affirmed that education and lifelong learning are indispensable to enable every continent to join the digital economy and
contribute to innovative projects.

“In every country, the culture of innovation should be taught in schools and a whole new generation must be given the necessary tools to successfully address issues such as health, energy, water supply and agricultural challenges,” said Fernández.

He also wished to stress science, technology, engineering and mathematics on all levels at school, adding that intelligent and innovative devices should
be developed to facilitate the global exchange of ideas, both inside and outside the classroom.

Among other achievements, the former president cited pacemakers, heart transplants, MRI machines, biomedicine, nanotechnology used in surgery and HIV treatments. “Thanks to these advances, life expectancy worldwide has increased by more than 15 years on average in the second half of the 20th century,” he pointed out.

He referred to the new
communication technologies, which have completely changed the way people work, move and interact with others. “The microprocessor (1946) and Facebook (2007), miniaturization technologies, satellite communications, mobile devices, cloud computing and artificial intelligence have transformed our habits, made the world smaller and promoted dialogue between cultures,” Fernández said.

The event wherein former President Leonel Fernández spoke is part of the
High-level Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting underway here under the theme “Science, Technology and Innovation and the Potential of Culture for Promoting Sustainable Development and Achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”

“Today, the United Nations has established a working group on the post-2015 development agenda. Curiously, the first report published by this working group pointed out that an essentially
unregulated financial system is a threat to development policies,” said the former Dominican President.

“Therefore, it is necessary to move towards a new economic paradigm to ensure that prosperity can be shared by the whole world,” said Fernández, who is also the president of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD).

Insisting that for-profit financial operations that lack transparency are detrimental to development, Fernández
noted that the new paradigm he is proposing requires the adequate regulation of financial activities in order to turn them into an essential tool for development.

In that regard, Fernández warned that in order to restore the credibility of the financial system, new episodes of extreme market volatility affecting the prices of raw materials due to speculation must be avoided and the same goes for the loss of competitiveness caused by the abnormal flow of capital and the
manipulation of benchmarks.