Small Countries Lack Respect in Current Global Economic Systems:Venezuela PresidentVenezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday that small countries have not earned enough respect from developed countries in the current global economic systems.Chavez, taking the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) as an example, said that small countries which are in a disadvantaged position in competition are "almost forced" to face their fierce competitors from developed countries. "I consider it as lack of respect that developed countries force us to compete with them," Chavez said. Chavez, a strong critic of economic globalization and neoliberalism, said developed countries are pressing underdeveloped nations to compete with them via the creation of globalized economic systems. Chavez has been one of the harsh critics of projects such as the FTAA, which aims to promote regional trade and dismantle trade barriers in almost every Western Hemisphere country in order to start operating as a single trade area as of 2005 During the event to re-open the textile production chain in Guatire, west of Caracas, Chavez called for an "economic, political and even military" union with the countries of the South American Common Market (Mercosur) to consolidate a "local" economic model of the sub-region countries. The Venezuelan leader argued that underdeveloped countries are still "under a colonial economic model." |
| People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ |