by Xinhua Writers Gu Zhenqiu, Wang Xiangjiang and Bai
Jie
UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Xinhua) -- The Monday
special high-level meeting at the UN Headquarters in New York helps to
strengthen the consensus of the international community that the current
economic and financial crisis is a global issue that requires global solution, a
UN expert said here on Tuesday.
Dr. Hong Pingfan, chief for Global Economic
Monitoring in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said in an
exclusive interview with Xinhua that the high-level meeting of the Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), the World
Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development came at
a time when the world is deep in the worst economic recession since the Great
Depression in the 1930s, thus attracting worldwide attention.
The UN Charter established the ECOSOC as the
principal organ to coordinate the economic, social, and related work of the
United Nations and the specialized agencies and institutions, known as the UN
family of organizations.
WHY SO IMPORTANT?
The Monday meeting mainly focused on the impact of
the current global economic and financial crisis on development, and discussed
how to ensure proper funds for development in a bid to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, which include global efforts to halve the world's population
in poverty by 2015, said Hong.
"The one-day high-level meeting is conducive to
strengthening the consensus of the international community in response to the
global economic and financial crisis, and to helping all countries to further
understand the nature and scope of the current crisis," he said.
"Frankly, you can not expect that the current
financial crisis can be completely solved just with one meeting of this kind,
but it is really a very important link of the process in which the international
community is learning how to adopt proper policies toward the crisis," he said.
"This process consists of many steps, and the high-level meeting is one of them.
It is of a great help in mitigating the impact of the current global economic
and financial crisis."
The conclave was called as a follow-up to the weekend
meeting in Washington of the Bretton Woods financial institutions -- the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank -- and in preparation for
the special June 1-3 UN General Assembly session on the crisis.
"The June conference will involve more countries into
the discussions as the General Assembly boasts 192 member states, while the
ECOSOC only has 54 members," said Hong. "That means the General Assembly will
bring the issue to be discussed in a broader sphere."
"We have an important opportunity to make progress
this June, when the General Assembly convenes the Conference on the World
Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development," UN
Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said in his opening address to the high-level
meeting. "I am counting on today's ECOSOC discussion to generate ideas that will
help the Conference to succeed."
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES PREFER TO SPEAK AT UN
"The world is in the most difficult period of time
since the Great Depression, this year and even the next year will witness the
world in economic recession," Hong said. "Indeed, no country is spared from the
current crisis."
"What began with financial turmoil in the third
quarter of 2007has escalated into a full-blown, global recession," Ban said at
the high-level meeting. "Development efforts are sagging under the weight of the
crisis."
Before October 2008, developing countries saw just
limited impact of the financial crisis, which had more severe effects on the
developed countries, Hong said, adding that the developed nations just took some
conservative policies to stabilize the financial markets.
However, after October 2008, the crisis evolved into
what is called the financial tsunami, which prompted the international community
to realize that the crisis is not a problem for a single country, and it is a
global issue which requires a global solution, he said, adding that such an
understanding has developed into a consensus among countries and international
organizations.
The International Monetary Fund has 185 members, just
seven fewer than that of the United Nations, but developing countries prefer to
speak at the United Nations.
"Many developing countries maintain that they have
only limited voices at the World Bank and the IMF, simply because they even have
no chance to speak at the annual sessions of the BWIs," said Hong.
Under the governance structure of the IMF, the voting
power is explicitly tied to the size of member countries' financial
contributions, known as "quotas." By virtue of their large quotas, rich
countries have the preponderance of voting power while developing countries are
left to complain about a "democratic deficit" that leaves them with little
influence over the IMF's policies and programs.
At the annual session, many developing countries are
represented by members of the decision-making body of the IMF, who speak on
their behalf.
However, this is not the case at the United Nations,
where one member has one vote at the General Assembly, and where every member
state, big or small, can speak on certain issues of their choices.
"That's why the international community seeks the
greater role of the United Nations, with its critical responsibilities and its
universal membership, in the fight against the global financial crisis," Hong
noted.
At present, the United Nations is mainly concerned
with the following aspects: First, the impact of the global economic and
financial crisis on the developing countries, including the low-income countries
and the most vulnerable population; Second, the impact of the global economic
and financial crisis on the efforts to realize the Millennium Development Goals;
Third, the impact of the crisis on climate change.
"The United Nations is one of the most important
organizations where the international community can strengthen multilateral
cooperation in meeting the challenges of the global financial crisis," Hong
said.
