Shaukat Aziz hopes UN panel recommendations will improve efficiency

OSLO, (Norway):  Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Thursday said Pakistan is proud to be a member of the United Nations high level panel and expressed the hope that the group's recommendations would help make UN more effective and responsive to aspirations of the member states. Talking to reporters before the start of meeting of the UN high-level panel, Prime Minister Aziz said the panel would be able to finalize its recommendations and proposals in the next two days. The heads of government of Pakistan, Norway and Mozambique along with 12 other members are attending the meeting here on the invitation of Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg. Prime Minister Aziz said the recommendations of the panel would improve the efficiency of the UN so that country-level coordination of the world body could be increased. Shaukat Aziz said the work of the panel would go a long way in improving effectiveness of the United Nations in discharging its responsibilities on development, humanitarian assistance and environment related issues. The Prime Minister is one of the three co-chairmen of the panel constituted by Secretary General Kofi Annan to help improve UN improve efficiency. He said Pakistan is playing an effective role in the deliberations of the panel. Referring to the previous meetings held in Spain and earlier in the UN headquarters in New York, he said he was confident that the exercise would benefit the UN tremendously and make its working more coherent and effective.
He hoped that the panel would finalize its recommendations on Friday and then a final report would be prepared for submission to the UN Secretary General for the approval of the General Assembly. Shaukat Aziz said Pakistan has also shared with others its experience in tackling calamities like earthquake and disaster management and given its recommendations on the issue. He expressed the hope that Pakistan's proposals on disaster management would be included in the final recommendations of the panel. Deputy Secretary General UN Mark Mulloch Brown and other officials of UN were also participating in the meeting. The Prime Minister Aziz said environment and development sectors would also be the major subjects to be discussed during the meeting so that a comprehensive policy could be prepared to tackle these issues. He said main aim before the panel is to make the UN decisions according to the needs of the member states and wishes of the masses particularly from the developing countries. The Prime Minister said Pakistan has proposed that the UN should establish a permanent fund with at least half a billion dollars available for immediate relief assistance in case of any emergency of natural calamity like earthquake instead of wasting the time to raise funds at the initial stage. He said there should be coordinated efforts from the UN in all the fields and the UN should be more reformed. Earlier, the Prime Minister of Norway Jens Stoltenberg in his inaugural remarks while welcoming the members of the panel said world is facing many challenges including development, environment, peace and humanitarian assistance. He said, "We believe in strong UN system and hope that in next two days, the panel will be able to prepare its recommendations to improve the system." The Prime Minister of Norway said the members of the panel are the friends of the UN and actively involved in its improvement. He said the main objective of the panel is to help the people, particularly the children who are facing poverty and need help from the UN. He said the panel would prepare recommendations to face the disasters like earthquake to have better and effective response from the UN and its allied organizations. He said Norway is a strong supporter of UN system and expressed the hope the panel meeting in Oslo, would be able to improve its system in a better way. He thanked the members of the panel to spare time and visit Oslo, to attend the meeting. The Prime Minister of Mozambique Luisa Dias Diogo talking to reporters before the start of the meeting said that the panel is preparing recommendations and hopefully, through these recommendations, "we will be able to eradicate poverty, improve environment and prepare strategy for the social uplift of the people."