Vrikodara Mahalanabis, Foreign Minister of the Greater Malivian Empire:
Fellow delegates,
On behalf of Malivia, I would like, if I may, to offer some thoughts on the situation regarding Medina and 3M.
It goes without saying that Medina's decision to nationalise 3M's assets in Medina without compensation was an act of a theft.
It was not just an act of theft against 3M's largest and wealthiest shareholders. There are also smaller shareholders. Consider too the impact of the loss incurred to the big institutional investors who own shares in 3M. That will affect ordinary, modest people with pension and other saving schemes all over Terra.
All of that would be bad enough, but the story does not stop there, fellow delegates.
By far the biggest victims of this act of theft are the ordinary people living in developing countries, which international investors will now shy away from, for fear that the example set by Medina will spread elsewhere.
Here in Malivia, which is a developing country, we know how important inward investment is, and how it can dynamise our economy and transform the lives of our people. 3M is one such organisation that has come here, creating jobs, helping us to revolutionise our healthcare and spreading innovation.
The great shame is that now Medina has done what it has done, the word will go around amongst the international business community that the governments of developing countries cannot be trusted, and that investors are far better off keeping their investments in rich countries, rather than taking chances on the developing world.
Countries like Malivia, which have always dealt honourably with the corporate world, will suffer as a result of this - even though they have not done anything wrong.
Recently, the World Congress has been discussing proposals for a "Human Rights Declaration". What, may I ask, is the point of such a Declaration when the World Congress is not prepared to raise any voice of criticism against a government like Medina, which recklessly jeopardises the prospects of the world's poorest peoples escaping from poverty? Could it be that the governments of the Security Council, most of which come from the rich world, care about human welfare only in trite legalistic ways, but not when it comes to being serious about making a real difference?
Fellow delegates, I have noticed also, with despair, that the response of some governments towards 3M's justified complaints has been to try to pass a resolution making it much more difficult for business organisations to speak at the General Asssembly. It has been a principle since the founding of the World Congress that all individuals and organisations should have the right to speak at the General Assembly. Many criticisms have been made of the World Congress, and many of them have been well-founded, but this principle - that all should be free to come to the governments of the world about their concerns - has been something the World Congress, and we as the international community, can be proud about.
It would be a serious mistake to jettison this principle for the sake of pursuing a populist vendetta against private businesses. If businesses are banned now, who will be banned next? Opposition groups? Human rights organisations? On whom next will this populist vendetta turn?
Fellow delegates, I appeal to you to see this populist vendetta against 3M for what it is. It is not championing the poor against a supposedly evil multinational company. What it is, instead, is a deliberate and organised attempt to prevent Medina from being held internationally accountable for an act of blatant theft that will have, and is having, serious repercussions for the very poorest people in Terra.
Aritey Ushant, Representative of the Vascanian Empire to the World Congress
