The reduction of poverty, the pardoning of the foreign debt as a measure to help countries develop, and the effects of globalization on developing economies were recurrent themes focused upon by those speaking at the opening ceremony. Host President Leonel Fernández called the attention of developing nations to the extreme burden the foreign debt is on developing nations. President Didier Ratsiraka of Madagascar stressed that in 2000, the difference between rich and poor countries will be 63 times greater than it was 10 years ago. He emphasized that economic globalization is a kind of totalitarianism that threatens poor nations. And urged that developed nations respect the right of developing nations to maintain positions different from theirs. The President of Gabon, Omar El Hadj Bongo, rendered the opening speech. At the opening ceremony, President Fernández was entrusted with the presidency of the ACP group of states through the next summit in two years. The Declaration of Santo Domingo will be issued today. The Summit has caused major traffic jams. While it was said that traffic along restricted major avenues would only be interrupted for half-hours before and after the transporting of the statesmen, in reality thousands of city residents have suffered major inconveniences in getting to and from work. As a result, those who can have stayed home, many of those who have had to go to work have had to walk, go by bike, or just bear with one to two hour bottlenecks. For those living in areas outside of the influence of the summit, it has been almost as if it was a Sunday, with very little traffic. For more information on the summit, see http://www.presidencia.gov.do http://www.acpsec.org/ http://www.dr1.com/daily/news112399.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news112299.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news111999.shtml http://www.dr1.com/daily/news111899.shtml
