The United Nations kicked off a special high-level meeting on Monday to discuss how to better combat the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, with representatives calling for the international community to honor their pledges early this month in London and make great efforts to reform the current financial structure.

The Monday session is known as the special high-level meeting of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development, which came just one day after the conclusion of the weekend spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington.

The conclave was also called in preparation for the special June 1-3 UN General Assembly session on the global financial crisis and its impact on development. It was held in the Economic and Social Council chamber at UN World Headquarters in New York and is to be followed up with consultations and another substantive meeting next month before the June 1 meeting.

'A full blown, global recession'

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his opening address, warned that the global recession could become a major humanitarian and peace crisis. Ban said the financial and economic crisis had escalated into "a full blown, global recession" where "hundreds of millions of people are losing their jobs, their income and their ability to survive."

"In too many parts of the world, frustration has erupted into violent protests, threatening stability and peace," Ban said.

While he said the G20 summit in London took a number of welcome steps and committed more than a trillion U.S. dollars, "We have to examine where the funds will come from, and make sure that countries make good on their pledges."

"We need to ensure that a large enough share of the additional resources will flow to developing countries, to help them cope with the crisis," the secretary-general said.

"We must act urgently to keep the financial crisis and economic recession from evolving into a major humanitarian crisis and a breakdown in peace and security," he said. "Our institutions and governance structures must become more representative, credible and effective."

Countries urged to honor London decisions

For his part, Zhang Yesui, the Chinese permanent representative to the United Nations, said that the G20 Summit in London, held early this month, "put the issue of development high on its agenda. It reaffirmed the historic commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals."

"The summit decided to make resources available for the poorest countries through voluntary bilateral contributions to the World Bank's Vulnerability Framework, and provide 6 billion U.S. dollars concessional finance to the poorest countries by using resources from sales of IMF gold and surplus income," he said.

"These decisions are important and timely. We hope the agencies concerned will make earnest efforts to implement them," he said.

As was often heard during the council session he deplored any moves for trade protection by states.

"The financial crisis should not provide any legitimacy for trade protectionism," he said. "On the contrary, in tackling the financial crisis, it is all the more important to consider how to resist trade protectionism."

Reform of international financial institutions

On behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Sansanee Sahussarungsi, the charge d'affaires of the Thai Mission to the United Nations, called for effective policy coordination both within the UN agencies and the UN system.

"Effective policy coordination both within the UN agencies and between the UN system and the BWIs (Bretton Woods Institutions) and the WTO should be enhanced," he said. "We support the policy dialogue with greater emphasis on development among these agencies."

"We also need to coordinate our national, regional and international macroeconomic policies and stimulus packages, to help maintain long-term stability," he said. "To this end, realignment of relationship between the UN, the BWIs and the WTO should also be further explored."

"Global economic governance should be central to the systematic reform agenda," he said. "The reform of the international financial institutions needs to reflect the current global economies and become more inclusive and equitable. We also stress the importance of strengthening existing financial and regulatory framework."

"We recognize the need to strengthen transparency, rules and regulations in a comprehensive and coherent manner that covers not only the financial sector but also underlying problems in corporate governance, competition policy, tax structures and surveillance," he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. UN Ambassador Susan Rice said the economic and financial crisis "has led to profound suffering and anxiety around the world. This has led some to call for radical change in financial institutions and for the creation of new systems and organizations."

She recalled U.S. President Barack Obama warned officials "need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people."

Instead, Rice said, "We believe the international community must advance the important reforms currently underway to strengthen international institutions and make markets function better. These efforts are important to restore the broad-based growth necessary to reduce poverty -- and they have firm support of the United States."

The Washington envoy endorsed the secretary-general's support for establishment of a "monitoring and alert mechanism to track developments."

"This strikes us as sensible since we still have relatively sparse data on the political, social, economic, and gender effects of the crisis. We welcome comments by other participants about how -- working with other global institutions -- the United Nations can tap its large field presence and technical expertise to help fill the gaps," she said.

No retreat from multilateralism

Also taking the floor on behalf of the Caribbean Community, Darcy W. Boyce, Barbados' minister of state for Finance, Investment, Telecommunications and Energy, said, "The current crisis should not be used as an excuse for us to retreat from the precepts of multilateralism."

"Rather, it should inspire us in our search for a better one guided by the principles of equity, democracy, participation, transparency, accountability and inclusion and supported by institutions suited to meet the challenges of the 21st century," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 28, 2009)