2010-07-13 09:57

ATHENS - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called on Monday for an end to wide economic inequalities worldwide and a redistribution of wealth.

"The exit from the current global economic crisis will be achieved only through a redistribution of wealth on an international level," said Papandreou when launching a Socialist International forum in Poros, an island close to Athens.

The group's committee on international economic issues, led by Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, will discuss the decisions taken during the recent G20 meeting in Toronto and initiatives ahead of the next meeting, set to take place in Seoul in November.

The four-day forum in Poros is held in the framework of the annual international conferences organized over the past 13 years in Greece by "Andreas Papandreou Foundation", which was named after the late father of the current Greek prime minister, who had also served as a Premier in Greece.

The Socialist International group is comprised by 160 socialist, social democrat and labor parties across the world. On June 21-22 in New York, 350 leaders and high level officials of those parties agreed on a strategy to exit the international financial crisis, focusing on a tax on financial transactions.

Repeating the group's proposal for the implementation of this tax globally to support the weakest links of the international society, Papandreou stressed that the current crisis is not due to the welfare state, but due to inequalities and corruption.

Therefore solutions should focus on a redistribution of wealth, investments and the strengthening of international audit mechanisms to boost transparency, he said.

Referring to the Greek economic crisis that almost led the country to bankruptcy this year, Papandreou noted that Greeks realized more than ever that developments in Greece are closely linked to developments on the international level.

Apart from professor Stiglitz, who supported Papandreou's view that the efforts Greece makes to exit the crisis depend on the swift or slow recovery of global economy, among the participants are Baroness Catherine Ashton, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union and Segolene Royal, former presidential candidate in France.