Migiro Urges Greater Role For Emerging Economies

New York, Feb 13 2012 1:10PM
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today called for the wider inclusion of emerging economies in global governance mechanisms, noting that powerful decision-making bodies do not sufficiently reflect the growing impact of developing and new markets on the world economy.

“We need to ensure both greater synergies among, as well as participation of, all stakeholders,” Ms. Migiro said in an address to the conference marking 10 years since the launch of the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy, a joint initiative of Finland and Tanzania aiming to establish a set of commonly agreed rules to better manage globalization.

“We all need to work together to make our institutions more effective, fair and accountable. The name of the game is ‘delivering for people,’” Ms. Migiro to the Helsinki Process+10 conference in the Finnish capital.

The gap between old structures and new realities is causing divisions among groups of countries at different stages of development, she pointed out, stressing the need to strengthen ties among governments, civil society groups, the private sector and other international institutions.

She said that the United Nations is striving to achieve those objectives through a number of initiatives, including the Every Woman, Every Child campaign to promote global health, as well as the Sustainable Energy for All that is focused on energy security and sustainability.

The UN Global Compact has long been a platform for cooperation with partners in the private sector, she added.

“We are working to address the interlinked challenges of the global economic crisis, environmental degradation, poverty and social tensions,” said Ms. Migiro.

She noted that the UN too needed to have greater policy coherence given its great legitimacy thanks to its universal nature. “We need to be more efficient. And we need to move with the times.”

Ms. Migiro pointed out that the UN is focused on making sure that global policy-making reflects the needs of the world’s poor and most vulnerable, adding that the best way to do that is to close the gap between decision-makers and the people they represent.

“That is where multi-stakeholder cooperation comes in. When we engage our partners at all levels of society, we turn resentment into responsibility – and we turn up new ideas for progress,” she said.

“The United Nations can bring together different players from around the world. We can link them to both formal and informal negotiations on the most important issues of our day. We have decades of experience in helping partners to gather and interact with official government negotiations.”
Feb 13 2012 1:10PM
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