SA calls for global financial reform
25 September 2009
South Africa President Jacob Zuma, addressing the United Nations general assembly in New York on Wednesday, called for global financial institutions to be reformed to give poorer countries a greater say in how they are run.
The UN's seven-day annual general debate kicked off on Wednesday under the theme, "Effective responses to global crises: strengthening multilateralism and dialogue among civilizations for international peace, security and development."
Zuma told the assembly that the makeup of the World Bank, World Trade Organisation and International Monetary Fund did not reflect the changes that had taken place in the global economy since their formation a half century ago.
"We should ensure that the election of the heads of all these institutions is more democratic, and opens opportunities to developing countries," Zuma said. "The emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must have a greater voice and greater participation in these institutions."
He told the assembly that the global economic meltdown has dealt a heavy blow to world efforts to eradicate poverty, but it should not diminish the determination of world leaders to eliminate poverty.
Zuma said that efforts to eradicate poverty had slowed down as a result of the global recession, and that the world's poorest countries had been suffering the most, even though they had done nothing to cause the crisis.
"The United Nations must play a significant role in finding solutions to the global economic crisis. The crisis should not be an excuse to delay further action on the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals," he added, referring to the set of socio-economic targets that world leaders had agreed to try to achieve by 2015.
On climate change, Zuma told the assembly that it would severely undermine development and poverty eradication efforts, and called on developed countries to make "ambitious, quantified, and legally binding emission-reduction commitments that were in line with science and that address[ed] their historical responsibilities."
Zuma also stressed the need for an urgent conclusion to the long-running Doha round of global trade negotiations, "in a manner that prioritizes development."
He noted that it was 20 years ago that the UN had adopted a resolution on international solidarity with the liberation struggle in South Africa, saying this served as an example of the world's ability to co-operate for good on the global stage.
Other leaders who addressed the assembly on Wednesday called for coordinated international action to address both the effects of the global recession and the threat posed by climate change.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the assembly with an appeal to the world's leaders "to create a United Nations of genuine collective action" to respond to the global financial, food and energy crises, as well as the swine flu pandemic.
United States President Barack Obama told the gathering that the US "stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation."
He called on the world to redouble its efforts to ensure that the UN was central to efforts to advance the common interests of people around the globe.
"That is the future America wants – a future of peace and prosperity that we can only reach if we recognise that all nations have rights, but all nations have responsibilities as well.
"That is the bargain that makes this work," Obama said. "That must be the guiding principle of international cooperation."
Source: BuaNews-Xinhua
