UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- An ongoing
high-level debate at the UN General Assembly has reflected a growing consensus
on an overhaul of the current global financial structure, which was founded more
than 60 years ago.
Also, while taking the podium at the New York
headquarters of the 192-member world body, top officials, in particular those
from developing countries, are calling for the UN to play a key role in
addressing the world financial and economic crisis.
The United Nations Conference on the
World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development is held
at the UN headquarters in New York, the U.S., June 24, 2009. The United
Nations kicked off a three-day high-level meeting on Wednesday to assess
the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression. (Xinhua/Gu
Xinrong) Photo
Gallery>>>
The three-day conference, which opened on Wednesday,
has brought together some 120 member states, the majority of which are
developing countries, to discuss how the international community might be able
to help poor countries tide over the crisis.
UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon called for a reform
of international financial institutions, saying that bodies and mechanisms
created generations ago must be made more accountable, more representative and
more effective.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon
delivers remarks during the United Nations Conference on the World
Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development at the UN
headquarters in New York, the U.S., June 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen Hong)
Photo
Gallery>>>
Some delegates insisted that the Bretton Woods
Institutions, which was created in 1944 and comprises the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), should be reformed to be more
development-oriented and more accessible to poor countries.
There was also a need for a new financial
architecture, with stronger regulation and better monitoring mechanisms to
prevent potential economic and financial threats from developing into major
disasters, they said.
Ernesto Cordero Arroyo, minister of social
development of Mexico, said that a reform of the international financial system
was needed to make it more oriented toward development.
He called for decisively increasing developing
countries' participation in international financial institutions, to make them
more representative.
During the debate, the current practice of having the
United States and the European Union name their candidates to lead the World
Bank and the IMF was challenged.
The Mexican minister said that the heads of those
institutions should be elected based on democratic criteria and based on their
merits, without areographic or nationality conditions.
Belize's Prime Minister Dean Barrow urged "greater
and more effective global participation" in the international financial
institutions.
"Thus, the leadership of the institutions should be
selected on the basis of open and fair competition from among nationals of
members," Barrow said. "There can be no justification for continuing the current
practice whereby the President of the World Bank Group is appointed by the U.S.,
and the Managing Director of the IMF is appointed by the European countries
acting together."
Some delegates also called for greater voice and
representation of developing countries, in particular low income countries, in
the decision-making mechanisms of international financial institutions.
Steve William Abana, minister for national planning
and aid coordination of the Solomon Islands, said that the international
financial structure was significantly flawed, and that any reform must aim to
give low income countries increased representation.
GREATER UN ROLE IN
TACKLING CRISIS
UN officials and developing countries argued that the
United Nations, the only universal body that represents all sovereign states,
must play a stronger role in the global response to the current crisis.
"We need the United Nations," Ban said, calling for a
renewed multilateralism to help all countries weather the economic downturn.
"What better place than this United Nations General
Assembly to do so," UNGA President D'Escoto Brockmann said, touting the assembly
as the "headquarters of the G192."
Some participants of the conference said that the UN
should have an active role in the new international financial architecture.
Tiliman Thomas, prime minister of Grenada, said that
the global crisis required increases in financial resources, accompanied by a
restructuring of international financial institutions, improved regulation and
better governance.
Moreover, the UN had to embark on a more prominent
role in those pursuits, Thomas said.
Thongloun Sisoulith, deputy prime minister of Laos,
stressed that his government supported the role of the UN in developing an
international consensus on what action must be taken to address the crisis.
The country "supports the role of the UN in
developing a global consensus concerning actions that must be taken in finding
sustainable solutions to the crisis," he said.
Barbados voiced its hope to see a greater role of the
United Nations in global economic decision making.
"Barbados believes that the United Nations, which has
a unique role and legitimacy, must play a much greater role in global economic
decision making and rule setting," said Darcy Boyce, Barbados' minister of state
of finance, investment, telecommunications and energy.
This is the first high-level conference in the
history of the United Nations to discuss an international financial crisis.
The aim of the high-level gathering, officially known
as "the United Nations Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and
Its Impact on Development," is to identify emergency and long-term responses to
mitigate the impact of the crisis, especially on vulnerable populations, and
initiate a needed dialogue on the transformation of the international financial
architecture, taking into account the needs and concerns of all member
states.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi
delivers a speech during the United Nations Conference on the World
Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development at the UN
headquarters in New York, the U.S., June 24, 2009. (Xinhua/Shen
Hong) Photo
Gallery>>>
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi Wednesday called on the international community to enhance
cooperation on development in a bid to tackle the global financial and economic
crisis.
In an address to the UN conference on economic and
financial crisis began Wednesday in the UN headquarters in New York, Yang said
as the international financial crisis is still unfolding, resources for
international development cooperation are dwindling.
"Though developing countries did not cause this
crisis, they have turned out to be the hardest hit," Yang told the high-level
meeting. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Representatives of
developing countries had their turn on the world stage to plea for help on
Wednesday at the opening of the UN Conference on the World Financial and
Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, June 25 (Xinhua) -- In face of the severe
world economic recession, cooperation and coordination at the international
level are key to the global anti-crisis response, especially for those hard-hit
developing countries.
"The crisis itself highlights a very important
concept that the actions of one part of economy can affect other parts of the
economy," economist and Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said at the ongoing
United Nations Conference on the world financial and economic crisis and its
impact on development.
"Failures in the financial system have affected the
real sectors and many countries in the world," Stiglitz noted. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The United
Nations Wednesday kicked off a high-level meeting to discuss the current global
financial and economic crisis and its impact on development.
The three-day high-level meeting came as the first
conference in the history of the United Nations to discuss the issue of the
international financial and economic crisis. The meeting was held after the
April summit of the Group of 20 (G20) largest economies in the world and before
the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations and the G20 conference in
Pittesburgh, the United States, in September. Full story
