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— More than 140 countries agreed Friday on a blueprint giving the U.N. a new role representing developing countries hit hard by the world's worst economic crisis in 70 years.
The 15-page document, which is not legally binding, makes clear that a solution to the economic crisis must include the views of all 192 U.N. member states and cannot be left just to the Group of Eight major industrialized nations or the Group of 20 key countries that account for over 80 percent of the global economy.
General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann called the document "a great achievement" adding, "the G192, has now been established as a central forum for the discussion of world financial and economic issues."
The document is short on specifics and leaves some demands by rich and poor countries unmet, but D'Escoto said it was "the first step in a long process of putting the world on a new path toward solidarity, stability and sustainability."
The document paints a depressing picture of the current state of the world economy: millions of people losing jobs, savings and their homes; more than 50 million additional people driven into extreme poverty, and the prospect of over 1 billion hungry and undernourished people, a historic high.
It calls for a larger share of additional resources for poor countries but gives no amounts.
The document also calls for measures to avoid a new debt crisis and new approaches to restructuring debt. It urges further study of the feasibility and advisability of reforming the current global reserve system, now based on the U.S. dollar, "to overcome its insufficiencies." And it recognizes "the critical need" to expand the regulation and supervision of "all major financial centers, instruments and actors, including financial institutions, credit rating agencies and hedge funds."
Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed, speaking for the Group of 77 which represents 132 mainly developing counties and China, called the consensus "a remarkable achievement," saying it "establishes a good basis for developing countries' objective towards a just and equitable world order."
The Czech Republic's U.N. Ambassador Martin Palous, speaking on behalf of the 27-nation European Union, expressed "satisfaction" with the outcome.
"This is a great message of resolve and hope that we are sending to the world, especially those who suffer most," Palous said. "It is now up to the United Nations to seize the opportunity."
The General Assembly will now establish a working group to follow-up on the issues in the document and report to its next session in September.
While the United States welcomed the discussions on "the concerns of developing countries" and joined in the consensus, U.S. diplomat John Sammis said the U.S. does not view the document as endorsing a U.N. role in decisions affecting the international financial institutions or the international financial architecture.
For developing countries facing acute shortages of foreign reserves, he said the U.S. opposes trade restrictions mentioned as an option in the document, and also opposes capital controls and debt standstills except as "a last resort ... as possible breathing space for more comprehensive economic reform."
The summit was delayed from early to late June in hopes of getting a larger turnout of world leaders, but of the 14 heads of state and government scheduled to attend, the two biggest names — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales — didn't show up. And there was not a single head of state or government from the developed world.
Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazee complained Friday that he was delivering the speech of First Vice President Parviz Davoodi since entry visas for him and his delegation "were not issued by the host country," the United States.
