U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday brushed off concerns about a rivalry between the top international body and the Group of 20 (G-20) leading economies, saying the two institutions should form a complementary and cooperative relationship.
Speaking to South Korean reporters at the U.N. headquarters here, Ban suggested the multilateral forums could benefit from each other by having participants agree to work closely together.
"There is a lot of interest in how to define the relationship between the U.N. and the G-20, the G-8 and other global institutions," said the secretary general. "The ideal path to follow would be for the G-20 and the U.N. to maintain close relations with each other and (arrange for) the U.N.'s key agenda items to be discussed thoroughly among the G-20."
His comments appeared to refute speculations that the role of the U.N. would diminish with the emergence of the G-20, which accounts for 80 percent of the world's income. Others argue that the smaller group should be absorbed within the more comprehensive and larger one.
"There is a consensus within the U.N. that the G-20's legitimacy depends on a transparent and inclusive process to cooperate closely with the U.N.," the former South Korean foreign minister said.
One area in which the two global bodies could find common ground is the fight against poverty, as South Korea has placed development issues high on the agenda for the G-20 summit it will be hosting in Seoul next week. The country's president, Lee Myung-bak, stressed earlier this week that he expects the visiting leaders to come up with 100 action plans targeted at helping poorer nations stand on their own feet.
Ban welcomed the move, saying, "If the Seoul conference produces specific action plans on development, they will be able to complement the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals." The U.N. project was adopted in 2000 by all 192 member states of the multinational body and aims to achieve eight development goals, such as reducing child mortality rates and fighting disease epidemics, by the year 2015.
The fifth G-20 summit next week will mark the debut of the Seoul-proposed development agenda and "U.N. member states have extremely high expectations," Ban said, adding that his role will be to "clearly deliver the U.N.'s stance and ask for the leaders' cooperation."
The U.N. chief also stressed that he would not be attending to represent the interests of the 172 U.N. members that are not part of the G-20.
"The U.N secretary general's role is to represent all member nations of the U.N and not particular groups or countries," he said.