PATTERSON
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES support reform of the United Nations, said Prime Minister Percival Patterson in an address to the second South Summit of the G77 Group and China in Doha, Qatar yesterday.
A debate has arisen in the international community over reforming the United Nations and its main organs. Mr. Patterson, who is chairman of the Doha meeting, was addressing this and other issues at the meeting.
"Our Doha Plan of Action for 2005, outlines the critical need to ensure that in the reform of the United Nations, development is given high priority," he said. "The relevant organs, agencies, institutions, funds and programmes of the UN system must be appropriately strengthened and empowered to support that priority."
READY FOR CHANGE
Developing countries stand ready for change, he said. "This can only happen when there is a commitment to the strengthening of multilateralism and genuine economic cooperation for the benefit of all mankind."
The application of coercive, punitive measures against individual states should be abandoned, he said. It destroys that spirit of united effort and undermines the principles of mutual respect, tolerance and friendly relations.
"We will succeed if reform efforts for building a more effective United Nations concentrate on the fundamentals. These are the challenges facing the majority of mankind: the struggle for survival against its most dangerous enemies, poverty, ignorance and the ravages of hunger and disease," he stated.
OTHER HEADS OF STATE
The Prime Minister promised to work with other heads of state and heads of government to advance co-operation among developing countries, and to help bridge the divide between rich and poor countries.
This a critical as the developing countries are not on target to meet their Millennium goals and a dramatic effort will be needed to meet the expectations, he said.
Established at the Millennium Summit in 2000, goals were set to reduce the worst of the social deprivations in developing countries and to deal with major health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases.
