By IRNA,
Tehran : The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a message to the 15th ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran on Wednesday urging them to pay due attention to three major international crises facing the world.
The secretary general called on the two-day meeting participating delegates to take serious measures to confront the development, food and climate crises.
The message was delivered to the NAM meeting by Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the UN’s Information Center said in a press release on Thursday.
NAM’s 15th ministerial meeting was held here on July 29-30.
The UN chief referred to NAM as “a valued partner of the United Nations.”
“Though formed under markedly different global conditions, your Movement’s perennial concerns, from poverty to justice, remain sources of profound disquiet even today,” Ban Ki-moon said in his message.
He urged the 118-member body, to pay “urgent attention,” to the three crises.
As for the development crisis, the secretary general said that the UN has “reached the midpoint in efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, yet progress in many countries is off track, particularly in Africa.”
He stressed the need to uphold the trust that was forged in first agreeing to the MDGs.
“Developed and developing countries made commitments to each other, as did Governments and their citizens. Failure to meet these pledges, or at least to improve significantly on the gains to date, would be a terrible blow, with widespread implications for our shared humanity.
“Second is the food crisis, which is already turning back the clock on development gains. I have been calling on world leaders to deliver the full range of immediate needs, from food assistance to seeds and fertilizer for this year’s planting cycle, especially for the world’s 450 million small-scale farmers. Over the long term, we need to reduce agricultural subsidies in developed countries; reverse the deplorable downward trend in agriculture’s share of official development assistance; reverse years of under-investment in agriculture and rural development; and successfully conclude the Doha round of global trade negotiations. In the broadest sense, we need a Global Partnership for Food; toward that end, I urge you to study and support the Comprehensive Framework for Action developed by my High-Level Task Force on Food Security.
“Finally, our work towards the MDGs and to food security has also been severely undermined by a third crisis, the climate crisis. The Bali Roadmap agreed last December represents important progress.
We look now to build on that achievement with concrete outcomes from the Poznan meeting later this year. Also by the end of this year, we must have a fully financed and operational Adaptation Fund. We also need enlightened leadership, in particular from the industrialized countries, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. I will continue to work with leaders of all countries to ensure a successful climate change agreement, under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention, by the end of 2009.
“These three crises are not isolated problems. They are inter-related, affect both rich and poor, and require all of us to do our part. I pledge to marshal the forces of the United Nations behind this effort, and will count on your commitment, leadership and partnership as we move ahead. In that spirit, please accept my best wishes for a successful meeting.”