Minister Väyrynen: Would we need a ‘Security Council’ for Sustainable Development?
Press Release 204/2010
29 June 2010
In the keynote speech given at the Development Cooperation Forum of the UN Economic and Social Council’s 2010 High-Level Segment in New York on Tuesday, 29 June, Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen suggested that reform of the G 20 and linking it with official global institutions should be considered.
“On the basis of practical needs, the G 20 has become a forum for broad-ranging discussion and decision-making. I think, however, that it should be reformed and linked with official global institutions,” Väyrynen proposed.
In the Minister’s view, there is need to consider whether the G 20 could be altered to obtain a UN ‘Security Council’ for Sustainable Development that would deal with the economic, social and environmental sectors of the UN system.
“The idea of such a Council was first presented at the Rio Conference on Environment and Development in 1992. The composition and the mandate of the Council should be carefully considered and negotiated between the G 20 countries and all the UN Member States, so it would be as comprehensive as possible. To my mind, this would also strengthen development policy coherence and the UN global leadership better than at present,” the Minister contemplated.
Minister Väyrynen was one of three keynote speakers at the Opening Session of the UN Development Cooperation Forum.
During his trip, Minister Väyrynen also met, among others, with United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Hamidon Ali, UN Under-Secretary-General Sha Zukang, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark, EU Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs and Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare Doreen Sioka of Namibia.
Additional information: Päivi Nevala, Adviser to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development, mobile tel. +358 40 753 4375