By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN | INPS) – As the international community explores funding sources for implementing “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity”, embodied in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, attention is shifting to Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s proposals for a new world order combined with a New Future concept when he addressed the UN General Assembly and the Sustainable Development Summit in September 2015.
Introducing an innovative proposal for financing development, he urged each state to transfer every year 1.0 per cent of its military budget to a Special United Nations Fund for Sustainable Development. Explaining the rationale behind his proposal he said: “Negative trends are exacerbated by conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The current immigration crisis is caused not only the war but also by the development of imbalances.”
In the 21st century, he said, successful states will feature no stockpiles of weapons “but the ability to generate innovative ideas and create attractive environs”. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, he said, in 2014 the combined military spending of all nations exceeded $1.7 trillion (USD 1.7,000,000,000,000) or about 2.3 percent of world GDP.
The 17 SDGs include an ambitious target: the elimination of hunger and poverty worldwide by 2030. But the goals can be achieved only if the United Nations succeeds in garnering a staggering 3.5 to 5.0 trillion dollars each year – both from the public and private sector.
Since diverting 1.0 percent of the military budgets would not suffice by itself, the Kazakh President proposed far-reaching systemic changes. He called for the transformation of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) into a Global Development Council. Along with 54 UN member states elected by the General Assembly, the Council would consist of the heads of all UN Specialized agencies, including the International Monetary Fund.
The Global Development Council, President Nazarbayev suggested, should be tasked to become a global economic regulator involving projects carried out by this Council to promote economic growth worldwide. This, he pointed out, will help cutback considerably the risks of global crises and ensure responsible behaviour by the states in maintaining their national economic and social policies.
He added: “This will help decrease considerably the risks of global crises and ensure responsible behaviour by the states in maintaining their national economic and social policies. We consider the idea of a World Anti-Crisis Plan, the draft of which is being actively discussed on the margins of Astana Economic Forum, timely.”
The most pressing and serious global challenges – terrorism, demolition of the states, migration and other negative issues – are the result of the economic crisis, poverty, illiteracy and unemployment. “To tackle this global crisis, we need to start with clear rules for the emission and trade of the world reserve currencies as they do not now meet the criteria of justice, democracy, competitiveness, effectiveness and international control.”
The Kazakh President declared: “In the 21st century, our world needs qualitatively new instruments. The UN member states need to combine their efforts to create a new supranational currency, which should be relevant to the targets and tasks of global sustainable development and prosperity.”
The third plank of the new world order suggested by the Kazakh President – for the centenary of the UN in 2045 a Global Strategic Initiative Plan that would launch a new trend in global development based on fair conditions “where all nations would have equal access to world infrastructure, resources and markets as well as to maintain comprehensive accountability for human development”.
A major step in realizing the 2045 Global Strategic Initiative Plan, he said, could be the development, under UN auspices, of a NEW FUTURE Concept. “We need, 70 years after the founding of the UN, to clearly define the goals of the next stage in the development of humanity. I believe this NEW FUTURE is about how we deliver nuclear, energy, water and food security and build trust, mutual understanding and reforms.”
These proposals are devoid of any ideological elements that were alleged to underline the General Assembly’s ‘Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order’ adopted on May 1, 1974.
The resolution stated:
“Having convened a special session of the General Assembly to study for the first time the problems of raw materials and development, devoted to the consideration of the most important economic problems facing the world community,
“Bearing in mind the spirit, purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations to promote the economic advancement and social progress of all peoples,
“Solemnly proclaim our united determination to work urgently for the Establishment of a New International Economic Order based on equity, sovereign equality, interdependence, common interest and cooperation among all States, irrespective of their economic and social systems which shall correct inequalities and redress existing injustices, make it possible to eliminate the widening gap between the developed and the developing countries and ensure steadily accelerating economic and social development and peace and justice for present and future generations, and, to that end . . .”
President Nazarbayev considers it important to make every effort to restore dialogue, mutual understanding and trust in international relations. In fact he proposed to convene in 2016 the United Nations International conference at the highest level, designed to reaffirm the basic principles of international law. [IDN-InDepthNews – 20 March 2016]
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Photo: President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan took the floor at the UN Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda on September 27, 2015. Credit: The Astana Times