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Topic Discussion I
Politics of Hard Choices
Political Transition and Economic Restructuring
Room 1
(2 of 20 pages)
Margaret de Boer: So again, very welcome here. We start the sessions of
the topic discussion with very important and sometimes a bit paradoxical problem, and it has to do with the fact
how can you combine a democratic process in countries in transition with a change in the economic system. Changes
was quite often, if not always, mean sacrifices for the ordinary people at the moment when they thought they would
profit from the new democratic system. So it is a very important subject to all politicians all over the world,
but especially in countries with emerging democracy. The NDI organization presented you with some very interesting
terms of reference, which is in your booklet, and that provides us with, I would say, a sort of fundament to our
discussion.
But to start the discussion today, we get two presentations of politicians who've dealt with this problem of hard
political choices. The first one is the Honorable Mr. Adrien Houngbedji of the Republic of Benin, and he is presenting
-- he's a bit of -- sorry, he's President of the National Assembly. And the second will be Mr. Shankar Sharma of
Nepal, a member of the National Planning Committee.
But before we start with the presentation of these two members of our committee, I would like to present ourselves
with a short introduction, just mention your name, the country you represent, and your political position and the
first one is always a difficult one, so I start with myself.
My name is, as you read already, Margaret de Boer. I'm a member of the Dutch Parliament, I'm Chairman of the Committee
for Foreign Affairs and Development Corporation, I used to be a minister for environment special planning and housing
and I'm a member of the Social Democratic Party in my country. So I go to the right and ask you to present yourself.
Teresinha da Silva: Thank you. I'm Teresinha da Silva. I'm from Mozambique Amacabamique (ph), thank you.
Shankar Sharma: I'm Shankar Sharma, I'm from Nepal, and I'm the member of the National Planning Commission.
I look after the economic affairs, basically the macro-economic sector of the country. Thank you.
Chico Francisco: I'm Chico Francisco from Mozambique, I'm [inaudible] and a member of parliament.
Adrien Imbigi: [not available due to technical difficulties].
Check Oumar Diarrah: I am Check Oumar Diarrah, Mali Ambassador to United States.
Uyanga Anarsarhan: Mr. Bolat, member of the Mongolia Parliament and myself, Uyanga, the United Nations High
Commission for Human Rights, Mongolia field office.
Dr. Bilqis Al-Sheri: I am Dr. Bilqis Al-Sheri from Yemen, I am a member of the Party of Isla.
Elisabeth Pognon: Elisabeth Pognon, magistrar of the President de la [inaudible] Benin.
John Duke Anthony: John Duke Anthony, President of the National Council on U.S./Arab Relations and a Congressional
observer to Yemen's parliamentary elections in 1993 for the Republican party and in 1997 for the Democratic party.
Margaret de Boer: If you've just arrived, welcome in this meeting. May I ask you also to present yourself
immediately or is that a bit -- no, well. Yes, welcome to this meeting. We were just presenting ourselves and your
neighbor was the last one who presented himself, so I can ask you to present yourself here.
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