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Annual New York gathering focuses on security and development financing
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IPU President, Senator Sergio Páez, was received by the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, at the UN Headquarters in New York
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The ECOSOC chamber at UN Headquarters saw a large turn-out on 27 October when members of parliament congregated to discuss two of the most important issues on the global agenda: security and development financing. The occasion was the annual Parliamentary Hearing at the United Nations – an open-ended exchange of views between MPs and UN officials – that was attended this year by a record 120 MPs from some 40 parliaments. Scheduled at the beginning of the UN’s High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development, the meeting was also intended to facilitate the participation of MPs in the week-long UN Dialogue.
The UN’s highest officials were present at the Hearing: the UN Secretary-General made the introductory remarks; Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, President of the 58th General Assembly and a senator from his native Saint Lucia, delivered a keynote speech on the subject of UN reform. Mr. Rubens Ricupero, UNCTAD Secretary General, spoke at length about the future of trade negotiations. Other panelists included Mr. Pier Ferdinando Casini, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies (on UN reform); and Mr. Kobsak Chutikul, Member of the House of Representatives of Thailand and member of the IPU-EU Post Doha Steering Committee on trade.
Breaking with its traditional format, this year’s Parliamentary Hearing was redesigned to allow for presentations from MPs at the podium side by side with UN officials. An expert on financing for development, Ms. Nancy Birdsall, President of the Center for Global Development, also featured as panellist and moderator to help elucidate that broad and complex issue. These arrangements were a first step in changing the formula of the event to make it more focussed while putting the parliaments on a more equal footing with the UN.
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Global Security: some highlights from the debates
UN reform:
It will take a strengthened General Assembly and an expanded Security Council, requiring nothing less than changes to the UN Charter, to make the UN more effective in meeting security challenges. Parliamentarians can and must play a role in advocating reforms.
Terrorism:
It must be fought not only in its immediate manifestations but also its root causes: poverty, injustice, and the denial of people’s self-determination. There are soft threats (e.g., AIDS/HIV, water shortages) and hard threats. Both must be tackled with equal determination.
Iraq :
What is needed is a provisional government as in Afghanistan that would bring the occupation to an end and start the constitutional process. Elections could follow some time after the new constitution is approved. The lead up to new elections takes time and must be carefully managed.
Middle East :
is the road map merely dormant or actually dead? Under the circumstances of the current stalemate, new initiatives launched by parliamentarians and other concerned individuals (like the Geneva Accords) are complementary to the road map and may actually help revive it.
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Financing for Development: some highlights
Monterrey Consensus:
Its implementation will depend on political will to be mobilized from the bottom up, especially in donor countries. People will never agree to increase ODA if they don’t understand what it is for and if the media do not fulfill their educational function. Good governance is an indispensable condition. Corruption is one serious cause of economic inefficiency that parliaments must endeavor to eliminate in each country.
Developing countries:
Their dependency on commodities, which are suffering from declining prices, is a primary cause of poverty. In the long term, the economic renewal of these countries will depend on a shift to value-added production. This must be supported by the international regime of trade, investment and finance.
Trade:
It is important to take a long view on trade negotiations: history shows that perseverance pays off in the end. The 2004 UNCTAD meeting in Brazil will be an important opportunity for developed and developing countries to step back from the negotiating table and examine the various trade issues with a fresh perspective.
Capital movements:
$200 billion went from poor countries to rich ones last year alone. This highlights the extent of the problem concerning foreign investments and capital transfers that should in principle go from rich to poor. Capital transfers should go to help the productive sectors of developing countries instead.
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