Global Governance Group (3G)

REMARKS BY AMBASSADOR VANU GOPALA MENON, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS AT THE INFORMAL BRIEFING FOR UN MEMBER STATES ON THE OUTCOMES OF THE G-20 TORONTO AND G-8 MUSKOKA SUMMITS BY MR LEONARD EDWARDS, PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA FOR THE SUMMITS, UN CONFERENCE ROOM 1, 6 JULY 2010

I would like to thank HE Mr Len Edwards, Personal Representative of the Prime Minister of Canada for the G-20 and G-8 Summits, for returning to New York to brief us today on the outcome of the Toronto G-20 Summit. Canada had put in much thought and effort to making the Toronto Summit a success. The diverging economic conditions among G-20 members did not make consensus easy, so we are glad to see that the Summit produced a renewed commitment to achieving a strong, sustained and balanced global growth, and to further fortifying financial systems against future crises.

The global economic recovery is still tentative and at a fledgling stage. One of the key pillars to sustaining the recovery's momentum is to ensure that trade flows remain open as they provide a much-needed engine for growth. In this regard, we welcome the G-20's commitment at the Toronto Summit to extend the moratorium on increased and new barriers to trade and investment for another three years, and to take steps to rollback trade-distorting measures introduced during the crisis. But beyond resisting protectionism, we urge the G-20 to lead the way in tapping on the growth potential which open markets have to offer by working towards a meaningful and expeditious conclusion of the Doha Development Agenda. This is crucial to levelling the playing field in trade and balancing out global growth for both developed and developing nations. A recent report of the Peterson Institute entitled "G-20 in the Wake of the Great Recession" had assessed that a successful Doha outcome could deliver GDP gains of over $280 billion annually for participants around the globe. I note that the G-20 has stated its support for the Doha Round at the Toronto Summit, and we hope that it will take an active lead at the Seoul Summit to catalyse the conclusion of the Round.

We commend the G-20 for recognizing the importance of the development agenda amidst the more immediate economic and financial problems it has had to grapple with. Narrowing the development gap and reducing poverty are fundamental components to a more resilient global economy, without which growth cannot be sustained. The Toronto Summit has established a Working Group on Development to elaborate a development agenda and multi-year action plan to be adopted at the Seoul Summit. We hope that the plan will be a thorough and practical one that draws on inputs from all relevant stakeholders including non G-20 members and the UN system, all of whom have important perspectives to offer. We also hope that the deliberations of the Working Group will take into account the outcomes of the MDG Summit, to be held at the UN in September. In this regard, we will continue to monitor the work of this Working Group with interest.

As a member of the Global Governance group (3G), we would also like to state our appreciation for Canada's efforts in making the G-20 a more inclusive and consultative process, in particular through its invitations to the United Nations Secretary-General and the chairs of some regional organisations to the Toronto Summit. We hope that the chairs of other established regional organizations could also be invited to future G-20 Summits. We are also heartened that the Republic of Korea has taken this outreach process forward, and hope that subsequent G-20 Summit hosts will do the same. As we have stated before, we believe that the Secretary-General's participation in G-20 Summits should be formalised and that there should be sufficient flexibility in the G-20 process to provide for the participation of non G-20 members in discussions on specialised issues. The G-20 could adopt this "variable geometry" approach, for a start, in the Working Group on Development. It is only by factoring in the perspectives of other stakeholders will the G-20 be able to address the pressing global economic challenges facing us today in a comprehensive and optimal manner.

Finally, we look forward to the G-20's implementation of its commitments made at the Toronto Summit.

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