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Thank you very much Mr. Secretary-General for this very important briefing today covering, among others, the tragic treatment for the peace flotilla in international waters, the forthcoming G-20 Summit in Canada, your participation in it and your thankful insistence on our demand for social morality as our world vision at the UN.
We are also grateful to Mr. Olav Kjorven, the Assistant Secretary-General for his briefing to the member States earlier on this subject. We are indeed happy and somewhat reassured by his and your clarifications on your participation in the G-20 Summit.
May I take this opportunity to make a few points on the UN’s participation in G-20 Summit, on a UN-G20 relationship, on global economic governance and its decision making process.
Firstly, on your participation in the G-20 Summits, Mr. Secretary-General, no one can or should object to that because as the embodiment and symbol of the principles and values that the UN represents, your presence at the G-20 Summit will be important and relevant as it is for all other important regional and international meetings and summits, where you are routinely invited.
However, we are not aware whether the invitation to participate in the G-20 Summit actually also indicates you will be involved in G-20 decision making. We have not heard any suggestions to that effect so far.
Frankly, what we do not want to see, is for the UN Secretary-General or the United Nations and by implication, its membership to own or be associated with any decisions in whose finalization it has no voice or participation.
Secondly, there have been suggestions by some delegations to formalize a relationship between G-20 and UN, frankly are we clear as to what is meant by formalization of relationship between a Charter body and an informal group. Will this apply to all such groups?
Meanwhile, for the UN to consider an “observer status” at the G-20, in our view, may not be commensurate with our status as the “primus inter pares” and is particularly unwarranted if the due weightage and respect of this institution is in any way compromised.
Thirdly, on global economic governance, let me avail of this opportunity to reiterate that while Pakistan fully respects the right and prerogative of every Member State including those in the G-20, where we have some of our closest friends represented, to meet in informal settings to deliberate on issues of mutual interest and concern and to reach common understandings. The suggestion of formally undertaking global economic governance and decision making in Ad-Hoc groups and settings outside the UN Pakistan has problems with this and asks is this not a new and disturbing future trend for the UN?
We are in principle, opposed to decision making in exclusive formats when those decisions have global significance and implications. We see this as undermining the cardinal principles of multilateralism. Any global economic architecture must, in our view, ensure inclusiveness, transparency and full representation of all developing countries and promote full complementarities and coherence. This should remain the way forward at the UN.