Diplomat Without Portfolio in Davos
DR. DANIEL VASELLA, chief executive of Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, attracted attention in Europe when he questioned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in a videoconference at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He asked whether the United States was "playing into the hands of enemies" through its tactics in fighting terrorism. Here are a few excerpts from a recent conversation between him and William J. Holstein of the New York Times:
Q. Are there winners and losers in the process of globalization?
A. The concept of winners and losers is wrong. If one looks at economic growth, child mortality and other factors, which you can take as the measure of a country's health, you can see that the number of people living on less than $1 per day has declined steadily, from 38 percent of the world's population in 1970 to 20 percent today. But there has been a very different evolution of various parts of the world. Some countries have benefited much more than others. The advanced countries have benefited more. If you look at Latin America, East Asia and South Asia, their average income per capita has increased significantly. There is one remarkable exception, where we see stagnation, which is Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, there has been very slow and poor development.
Q. Do you think the distribution of wealth needs to be improved?
A. There is a maldistribution in the sense that we have about 20 percent of the richest 6.1 billion people in the world getting 74 percent of the income, and 80 percent get 26 percent of the income. If you take the poorest 20 percent, they only have 2 percent of the income. So there is no way we can say it is well distributed.
Q. What did you say to Secretary Rice about the war on terror?
A. It is not a question of whether one should fight terror or not fight terror. Terror is absolutely unacceptable. What we have to stand for is to create and maintain a free and open society. With terror, you destroy open societies. But in an open society, there must be a place for expressing one's opinion. Critiquing is in some ways an expression of respect. If you do not respect somebody, you do not bother to critique them. Having said that, I do believe that if you are economically, politically and militarily a superpower, then you have to be a role model for the world. If you talk about values and you stand for democracy and respect for human rights, then you have to act accordingly. The world will look very closely to see if there is consistency between what you say and how you act. You will empower your enemies and weaken your supporters if you deviate from your values and principles.
Q. What do you mean specifically?
A. You cannot fight a war without casualties and without taking prisoners. But other questions remain, like, Do you torture? We, the open societies in the world, have to apply the strictest standards. We need to treat people with respect. We need to be very thoughtful about not offering ground for anybody to be against us. We have to be thoughtful about the fact that poverty and the lack of education are excellent breeding grounds for terrorists. They can indoctrinate children. That's what's happening in many countries. The perception in people's minds about who we are gets very distorted.
For the full report go to http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/12/business/yourmoney/12advi.html or click on the link in EU-Digest
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