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Soros: we need a change
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January 28, 2000: 7:32 a.m. ET
Financier demands new architecture to help developing countries
By Staff reporter Rod Cant in Davos
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DAVOS, Switzerland (CNNfn) - Billionaire financier and philanthropist George Soros threw down a challenge to the western world Friday, demanding more help to get developing countries on the road to prosperity.
Speaking to a packed auditorium at the World Economic Forum, Soros said, "We need a better system of carrots and sticks," to encourage developing countries to treat their citizens better and raise standards of living.
Soros espoused his vision of citizens in more affluent societies driving forward change, and a more responsible attitude to combining big business with other priorities including the environment and social justice.
"We need an alliance of democratic states to strengthen society around the world, and set down rules on ecology and labor."
"The system needs to change...the political process has deteriorated tremendously," he added.
Soros was particularly scathing about the extent of political lobbying by big business, demanding that strict lines be introduced to separate the interests of corporations and politicians.
His comments were echoed to a certain extent by fellow panelists who included Bulent Ecevit, prime minister of Turkey, Louis Schweitzer, chairman of French car maker Renault (PRNO) and Christine Todd Whitman, governor of New Jersey.
Soros has long been a critic of international organizations, particularly the International Monetary Fund, for their apparent inability to help developing countries.
Renault boss Schweitzer struck a more positive note, claiming that business leaders and politicians had developed a more stable relationship, with both prepared to accept the other's legitimacy in their own particular area.
"No state, except perhaps the United States, can regulate its own economy," he claimed, indicating that politicians are now more prepared to let the market rule. 
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World Economic Forum
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