World needs parliamentarians' influence to tackle global crises – Ban

The world needs the influence of parliamentarians in addressing a number of urgent, inter-related global concerns, including the current financial turmoil, climate change and the recent H1N1 flu outbreak, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today.

“Parliamentarians possess considerable authority to make decisions that will have long-term repercussions for our collective future,” he told the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference on the global economic crisis, in a message delivered in Geneva by Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

“You can take steps to set the world on course for economic recovery and long-term sustainability,” he said, noting that the economic and financial turmoil continues to unsettle markets, risking a reversal in hard-won development gains, social unrest and new poverty and hunger for millions.

In addition, the world faces challenges such as climate change, terrorism, conflicts and the recent outbreak of the H1N1 flu.

“The world must respond with a new multilateralism, in which the international community comes together not just to address individual problems, but to tackle them in tandem. Solutions to climate change, for example, must take account of food and energy needs.

“Solutions to the economic crisis can be found in part in green energy, green jobs and green growth. If we are smart about it, if we can drive at these connections, solutions to each can be solutions to all,” he stated.